Rotkreuz, Switzerland – April 1st, 2008

Improved control of anti-coagulation therapy

Today, Roche announced the launch of its new CoaguChek XS Connect device, which makes anti-coagulation therapy monitoring with the CoaguChek XS system even more convenient, whether at home or in the doctor’s office.

Oral anti-coagulation therapy is an important treatment for patients with specific medical conditions; such as mechanical heart valves, atrial fibrillation or thromboembolic venous diseases. Frequent monitoring to support drug dosing adjustments and also to stay within the therapeutic range has proved to be an essential element in the success of any therapy. With the help of the CoaguChek XS Connect system, review of the patient’s test results, recognition of trends, and confident decision-making become easier.

Involving patients in the management of their condition has many benefits, as has been proven for patients with diabetes and patients on oral anti-coagulation therapy. The CoaguChek XS system facilitates coagulation monitoring with on-the-spot results at the doctor’s office or at the patient’s home. The CoaguChek XS Connect system is helpful in getting an overview of the coagulation monitoring test results and therefore is key to a successful therapy.

“The new CoaguChek XS Connect device has been designed to make these tasks easy, fast and convenient,” said Patrick Wieghardt, Product Manager at Roche Professional Diagnostics. “Only three steps are required to download test results from a CoaguChek XS meter to a computer. This means reduced risk of incorrect result-reporting, and an easy-to-review overview for patients and healthcare professionals within seconds.”

The device provides customizable reports and trend graphs, which can be reviewed on the computer screen, stored and printed out. Only minimum computer literacy is required. No software needs to be installed – simply plugging the device into a USB port is all that is required. The USB port also provides the power for this battery-free device.

With the CoaguChek XS Connect system, results from the memory of the CoaguChek XS instrument can also be viewed, for example with Microsoft Excel, stored or sent by e-mail. Data transfer to other software applications allows healthcare professionals to collect and further process patient data in their own office’s IT environment.

For additional information on Roche’s CoaguChek solutions, please visit our dedicated website: www.coaguchek.com

About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide, the Group employs about 79,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.

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