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{\pard\sa900\fs50\f0\i Media Release\par}
{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Basel, 16 January 2004 \line \line {\b New 
R&D centre in China} \line Roche to expand global R&D activities by establishing 
a centre in Shanghai, China's biotech hub\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Roche will be the 
first global healthcare company to establish an R&D centre at Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai, 
China. The centre will be wholly owned and operated by Roche and will support the Roche Group\u8217?s worldwide 
R&D activities and its strategic business development efforts in the Chinese market. The Shanghai 
site will be an important addition to the Group\u8217?s R&D facilities in the United States, Japan and 
Europe.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 \u8216?China is a country with excellent resources and 
internationally trained biomedical scientists. The creation of our fifth research site in the Roche 
Pharmaceuticals Division represents a key strategic decision that will allow us to continue to enhance 
our capabilities in medicinal chemistry on a global level\u8217?, said Jonathan Knowles, President of Roche 
Group Research. \u8216?Looking to the long term, our aim is for the group in Shanghai to discover and optimise 
new molecules \u8211? active ingredients of potential new drugs \u8211? which address important unmet medical needs 
and can be marketed worldwide, including China.\u8217?\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Speaking 
recently at the International Business Leaders\u8217? Advisory Council for the Mayor of Shanghai, Dr Franz 
Humer, Roche Chairman and CEO, stated: \u8216?Over the next few years China will become an even more important 
market for Roche. Our financial and intellectual investment is an expression of Roche\u8217?s long-term commitment 
to China. The resulting knowledge transfer will support Shanghai in its efforts to become a leader in 
innovation.\u8217?\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 \u8216?For Roche the establishment of the Roche Zhangjiang 
R&D centre means we are entering a new field in China \u8212? in addition to our production facilities 
in Shanghai and our nationwide marketing and sales organization. For China this investment is a big 
step towards making Shanghai a centre for pharmaceutical research and biotechnology through transfer 
of international expertise, competence and knowledge. This is another example of Roche\u8217?s excellent cooperation 
with the City of Shanghai\u8217?, said Antonio Chow, General Manager of Roche Pharmaceuticals Shanghai Ltd., 
at a project announcement ceremony in Shanghai.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Scheduled 
to be fully operational by the end of 2004, the Shanghai facility will initially be staffed by 40 chemists. 
Discovery efforts at the facility will support medicinal chemistry research and will initially concentrate 
on key chemical building blocks and focused libraries. These efforts will be aligned with discovery 
research at the Roche sites in Basel, Nutley, Palo Alto and Penzberg and will contribute to the development 
of novel, high-quality medicines.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Besides strengthening the 
Roche Group\u8217?s global research organisation, the investment in R&D in China will allow Roche to successfully 
interact with authorities and key opinion leaders on issues relating to the further development of the 
Group in this market. Interactions with the authorities will address the new drug application review 
process, drug pricing and protection of intellectual property. \par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Roche 
has been active in China for 10 years, with both core businesses \u8212? diagnostics and pharmaceuticals \u8212? 
represented. Roche is one of the leading suppliers of prescription medicines in China. The Group employs 
a total of about 1200 people in Hong Kong and Shanghai.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 From 
2004 on the new centre will be part of Roche\u8217?s global pharmaceutical R&D network, which currently 
includes more than 5000 scientists at four research centres dedicated to providing clinically differentiated 
drugs to address unmet medical needs. The Group\u8217?s broad innovation network is based on strong in-house 
R&D capabilities and alliances with numerous partners around the world, including Genentech and 
Chugai. In China Roche is collaborating with the Chinese National Genome Centres in Shanghai and Beijing 
on genetic epidemiology studies into genetic predispositions to conditions such as diabetes and Alzheimer\u8217?s 
disease.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 {\b About Roche} \line Headquartered 
in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world\u8217?s leading innovation-driven healthcare groups. Its 
core businesses are pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is number one in the global diagnostics market, 
the leading supplier of pharmaceuticals for cancer and a leader in virology and transplantation. As 
a supplier of products and services for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, the Group 
contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people\u8217?s health and quality of life.\par}{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 {\b About 
Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park} \line Established in 1992, Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park is one of 
China\u8217?s leading technology parks in the fields of biomedicine and information technology. It is located 
in the central part of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, and offers a full range of competencies in drug research, 
development and manufacturing. Covering 54 square kilometres, the park hosts academic competence centres 
and incubation centres for start-up companies. Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park enjoys strong government support 
and aims to attract respected enterprises from home and abroad to become an internationally known competence 
centre for biotechnology.\par}
{\pard \par}
{\pard\sb180\f1\fs22 {\b F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd}\line 4070 Basel\line Switzerland \par}
{\pard\sb180\f1\fs22 Corporate Communications\line Roche Group Media Relations \par}
{\pard\sb180\f1\fs22 Tel. +41 61 688 88 88\line Fax +41 61 688 27 75\line www.roche.com \par}
}