Investor Update
Basel, 15 August 2008
Roche and the wider global community: making a lasting difference to people’s lives
Progress report on new initiatives in providing Access to Medicine and encouraging scientists
Over and above our primary role as an innovative healthcare business, we also have a long heritage of wider community involvement – in humanitarian and social projects centred mainly in Least Developed Countries, and through our support for scientific research, development opportunities for young scientists and contemporary music and arts. We encourage our employees to play a part in the community too, and support their efforts to do this.
Recently Roche has been involved in projects providing immediate assistance in the aftermath of natural disasters, such as the earthquakes in Peru and subsequently in China, but also across other areas of society. These include assisting non-profit organisations in the search for affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases in the developing world and developing future talented researchers through an expanded international postdoctoral research fellowship programme.
Rebuilding Communities - Roche support for the Peruvian earthquake
On 15 August 2007 a region 200 km south of Lima, Peru was shaken by a very strong earthquake that reached 7.9 on the Richter scale. After immediately sending emergency and first aid materials to the region, Roche decided to make a lasting difference by helping to reconstruct the destroyed village of Chocos, a village in the Peruvian Andes that was heavily affected. The project is funded by Roche and by Re&Act, the Roche Employee Action and Charity Trust. Re&Act, Roche and the inhabitants of Chocos work together to provide the expertise needed to rebuild the village.
In its efforts to help the villagers rebuild their community, Roche is working with local authorities and partners who share the company’s commitment to long-term solutions and who are prepared to make appropriate contributions of their own. Since the start of the project, Roche has supported the construction of a dam that will aid economic and social recovery. The dam will substantially enhance quality of life in the village. Chocos’ inhabitants are given the skills, technical supervision and materials they need to rebuild their houses. By organising themselves efficiently, they were soon able to start restoring the local secondary school and adding extra classroom space. The villagers also built a roof for the community centre in Chocos. At present, they are making the mud bricks they will need to build houses under the supervision of specialists.
Roche support for the Sichuan earthquake
Roche was also involved in the emergency relief effort in Sichuan in line with its commitment to providing immediate assistance in the aftermath of natural disasters. After a major earthquake hit the Chinese province of Sichuan on 12 May 2008, Roche provided medicines and financial aid through the local Red Cross. The medical relief consisted of more than 53,000 vials of Rocephin, which were delivered for use by medical aid teams.
Research collaboration to fight neglected diseases - Roche and One World Health
In April 2008, Roche and the Institute for OneWorld Health entered into a collaboration under which OneWorld Health will screen compounds from the Roche library to identify a potential new drug for the treatment of diarrheal diseases, which kills approximately 2 million children under the age of five in developing countries each year, and for which there are currently no effective treatments.
With the pediatric death toll due to diarrheal illnesses exceeding that of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, OneWorld Health is working to discover and develop a novel anti-secretory diarrheal drug to reduce fluid loss and help prevent death from dehydration caused by acute watery diarrheal disease. This treatment is intended to be used as an adjunct to Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) and zinc to save the lives of infants and children.
Encouraging outstanding research - Postdoctoral Fellowship Programme
Roche has established in June 2008 a new international Roche Postdoctoral Fellowship programme (RPF). The aim of the programme is to support outstanding young scientists in cooperative R&D projects between Roche and academic institutions by providing grants for up to four years. The purpose of RPF is to strengthen international scientific exchange and nurture the development of innovative specialist knowledge, new ideas and creative talent. Roche plans to award up to 100 postdoctoral fellowships in various scientific disciplines in the first two years of the programme, and in the long term to expand it into a broad-based international platform that promotes scientific excellence.
Postdoctoral students supported by the RPF programme will receive scientific mentoring both from Roche and its academic partners. An Internet platform, accessible through Roche’s website, will be in place by the fourth quarter of 2008 to provide further information on the application procedure and relevant research areas.
About Roche’s Policy on Donations and non-commercial Sponsorship
Roche has a clear and consistent corporate “Policy on Donations and non-commercial Sponsorship” to ensure consistency and alignment throughout the Roche organisation. The philosophy behind the policy stems from Roche’s longstanding tradition of sharing its business success with people who may not be in a position to directly benefit from our primary business activity. Roche’s donations represent additional contributions to society that express our commitment and responsibility in the broader contexts of humanitarian needs, culture, education and the environment.
Roche’s approach to giving mirrors its innovation culture and sustainable business model in that it focuses on efficiency, equality and potential impact rather than on cost. By developing and implementing innovative solutions in partnership with suitable local partners, the simplest actions can often result in more lasting improvements. Success and value are not gauged by material return on investment.
By supporting the Chocos Village Project, Roche and its employees are once again providing a more long-term solution that will make a lasting improvement to health, education and economic opportunity
About the Roche Employee and Charity Trust (Re&Act)
Re&Act was set up to support humanitarian and community rebuilding projects for ongoing programmes and as a long-term response to disasters. It is especially designed to match the motivation and generosity of people within Roche to humanitarian needs and rebuilding programmes in the least developed countries by tapping into the company’s knowledge and resources. By creating a mechanism to channel such donations and by accessing the company’s knowledge and assets, it guarantees that funds are carefully managed and that projects are prudently selected and monitored.
People from outside Roche are free to donate to the Re&Act’s work and their donations will go to assist selected projects supported by Re&Act.
See www.react.roche.com and www.roche.com/sus_csoc-resp-hum for more details about Re&Act.
About the Institute for OneWorld Health
The Institute for OneWorld Health, the first US nonprofit pharmaceutical company, develops safe, effective and affordable new medicines for people with infectious diseases in the developing world. The Institute for OneWorld Health, headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA, is a tax-exempt 501 (c) (3) US corporation. (http://www.oneworldhealth.org/).
Media resources are available at http://www.oneworldhealth.org/media/index.php/
Roche and sustainable development
Roche’s strategy is to develop innovative products and services that address unmet medical needs and are of real value to society. This will ensure we remain an industry leader in the face of changing healthcare trends. We are committed to sustainability and thus to running our business in a way that is ethical, responsible and creates long-term value. Sustainability is integrated into our corporate vision, values, operating standards and guidelines. The Corporate Sustainability Committee, a networked organisation with representatives from across the Group, develops and coordinates Group policies and activities relating to sustainability, including increasing the transparency of Roche’s activities in this area.
Ultimately patients and society only benefit from products if there is access to them. Therefore we are working with local and international partners to improve healthcare. We support projects where we can contribute skills and know-how as we believe this is a more sustainable solution. These include pricing and patent policies designed to increase access to medicines in developing countries and capacity-building programmes to help these countries improve their healthcare infrastructures.
Details on Roche and Sustainability can be found on the Roche website.
Overview of Roche’s major initiatives to increase access to its medicines.
Overview of the major social initiatives Roche supports.
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 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
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