Trade News
Basel, October 20, 2004
Licensing agreement
with Institut Pasteur and Bio-Rad enhances worldwide access for Roche Diagnostics technologies in the
fight against HIV/AIDS
Roche Diagnostics, the Institut Pasteur
and Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. today announced licensing arrangements that will enhance worldwide access
and improve detection techniques for laboratory technicians, physicians and patients fighting HIV/AIDS.
Through
collaborative efforts, Roche Diagnostics has acquired expanded licensing rights to the HIV-1 and HIV-2
patent portfolios owned or controlled by Institut Pasteur and Bio-Rad, obtaining freedom to operate
worldwide in the field of HIV for diagnostic testing, both PCR and immunoassays. Roche Diagnostics now
is positioned to enhance and extend its blood screening and nucleic acid testing (NAT) products on a
global basis, making technologies to speed the accurate diagnosis and monitoring of HIV-1 and HIV-2
accessible on a worldwide basis.
"Our goal is to continually broaden
access to PCR and other Roche Diagnostics’ technologies, particularly as researchers around the world
continue to make tremendous advances in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said Heino von Prondzynski,
head of the Roche Diagnostics Division and member of the Roche Executive Committee. "We are most
pleased to enter into this partnership with Institut Pasteur and Bio-Rad to further this goal."
"These
broadened new agreements break down barriers and promise to advance efforts to deploy the best diagnostic
and monitoring technology throughout the world," said Christian Policard, executive vice president
of Business Development for the Institut Pasteur.
"We welcome this opportunity to
partner with Roche Diagnostics to provide patients around the world with improved testing options for
HIV," said Norman Schwartz, Bio-Rad president and CEO.
Already,
Roche Centralized Diagnostics, a business unit of Roche Diagnostics, has moved to extend the infectious
disease line on its Elecsys® instruments. The Elecsys HIV combi, a first-line technology for the diagnosis
of HIV infection, will be ready for sale in Europe within weeks. Roche Diagnostics will launch the assay
in additional markets in the coming months. This test complements Roche Diagnostics’ PCR HIV-1 viral
load testing used for therapy monitoring.
Roche Diagnostics has developed
and encouraged the use of PCR technology through its global licensing programs. These programs, combined
with a broad spectrum of alliances, scientific collaborations, postdoctoral fellowships, donations of
reagents and visiting scientist programs, have placed PCR technology in the hands of innovative laboratory
scientists and physicians worldwide, successfully leading to the development of new research products
and revolutionary medical advances.
About Roche and Roche
Diagnostics
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading
research-intensive healthcare groups. Its core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a
supplier of innovative products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease,
the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche
is number one in the global diagnostics market, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation
and a market leader in virology. In 2003, the Pharmaceuticals Division generated 19.8 billion Swiss
francs in prescription drug sales, while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 7.4 billion Swiss
francs. Roche employs roughly 65,000 people in 150 countries and has R&D agreements and strategic
alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai. For
further information, please visit our websites www.roche.com and www.roche-diagnostics.com.
About
Institut Pasteur
The Institut Pasteur is a private foundation in the service of
public health. It aims to contribute to preventing and combating disease in France and abroad through
scientific and medical research, teaching and public health services. Twelve scientific departments
bring together 130 research teams totaling 2,500 people. Research on infectious diseases represents
about half of the scientific work carried out at the Institut Pasteur. Biomedical research is also focused
on non-infectious diseases: allergies, genetic diseases, brain disorders and some cancers. The international
network of the Institut Pasteur and associated institutes has 25 members spread over the five continents.
About
Bio-Rad
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. (www.bio-rad.com) is a multinational
manufacturer and distributor of life science research products and clinical diagnostics, providing complete
solutions for scientific discovery and creating new innovations in human health care. A global leader
in specialty diagnostics, Bio-Rad supplies hospitals, clinical laboratories and health care providers
with a wide range of customized products used for diabetes monitoring, quality control management, blood
virus, autoimmune disorder testing and toxicology. The company is based in Hercules, California, and
serves more than 70,000 research and industry customers worldwide through a network of more than 30
wholly owned subsidiary offices.