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{\pard\sa900\fs50\f0\i Media Release\par}
{\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs22 Basel, 17 January 2006\line \line {\b Roche 
donates a further 2 million treatment courses of antiviral Tamiflu to the WHO for regional stockpiling} \line \line Roche 
announced today that it will donate another 2 million treatment courses, or 20 million doses, of the 
antiviral Tamiflu (oseltamivir) to the World Health Organization (WHO). This is addition to previous 
donations made by Roche in 2004 and in August 2005, and will result in a total of 5.125 million treatment 
courses being available to the WHO to help people affected by a potential pandemic. \line \line Whilst 
the donation made last year is stored centrally, these additional 2 million treatment courses will be 
stored as regional stockpiles in locations to be determined by WHO to serve the needs of developing 
countries. The regional stockpiles of Tamiflu will be used to reduce morbidity and mortality in the 
case of an outbreak of avian influenza in humans and prevent the further spread of such an outbreak, 
in the interest of public health.\line \line \u8220?Roche is working as a collaborative 
and responsible partner with governments and the WHO to assist in pandemic planning, including the stockpiling 
of Tamiflu. We are pleased to be able to further increase our donation to the WHO and help establish 
regional stockpiles of Tamiflu\u8221?, commented William M. Burns, CEO Division Roche Pharma. \line \line \u8220?By 
establishing regional stockpiles of antivirals, developing countries most likely to be affected by avian 
influenza in humans will be better prepared to rapidly manage outbreaks in the interest of global public 
health. It is important to emphasize that this and the previous donation(s) do not replace the need 
for countries to consider the establishment of national antiviral stockpiles as one of a number of measures 
of national pandemic preparedness consistent with the national priorities of each country\u8221?, commented 
Lee Jong-Wook, the Director-General of the World Health Organization. \line \line In 
contrast to the regional stockpiles of Tamiflu, the \u8220?rapid response stockpile\u8221? of 3 million courses 
of Tamiflu treatment donated by Roche to the WHO in August 2005, will be used exclusively at the site 
of outbreak of a pandemic in an attempt to contain or slow its spread. \line \line {\b A 
comprehensive production network} \line In order to increase the availability of Tamiflu 
to meet the growing demand as pandemic planning continues, Roche has taken significant steps to increase 
manufacturing capacity, doubling production capacity in 2004 and 2005 and will have the capacity to 
produce over 300 million treatments of Tamiflu annually by 2007 - more than a ten fold increase over 
the capacity in 2004. Roche has established close relationships with 50 external suppliers and the supply 
chain in place exceeds our current orders from Governments. Roche is now in a position to have a back-up 
supply in case of emergency and companies identified to take the capacity further will allow Roche\u8217?s 
supply network to respond to future demands from governments. Furthermore Roche has granted sublicenses 
to manufacture oseltamivir to a Chinese and an Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer.\line \line {\b About 
pandemics and H5N1} \line Influenza pandemics occur approximately every 40 years, and 
experts caution that it is a case of when, not if, the next pandemic will strike. The H5N1 avian influenza 
strain originating in Asia is considered by experts to be the most likely source of the next pandemic. 
Tamiflu is designed to be active against all clinically relevant influenza viruses, including H5N1, 
and data suggest it could be effective against any mutating strain of the virus\u8211? the key to a pandemic. 
An orally administered treatment, Tamiflu is systemically active, and can protect against the virus 
at all sites in the body. \line \line {\b About Tamiflu (oseltamivir) 
} \line Tamiflu is designed to be active against all clinically relevant influenza viruses 
and key international research groups have demonstrated, using animal models of influenza that Tamiflu 
is effective against the avian H5N1 strain circulating in the Far East.{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 3 
\par}} \line It works by blocking the action of the neuraminidase (NAI) enzyme 
on the surface of the virus. When neuraminidase is inhibited, the virus is not able to spread to and 
infect other cells in the body.\line \line Tamiflu delivers:\line \u8226? 38 
percent reduction 
in the severity of symptoms{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 1\par}} \line \u8226? 
67 percent reduction in secondary complications such as bronchitis, pneumonia and sinusitis in otherwise 
healthy individuals{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 2\par}} \line \u8226? 
37 percent reduction in the duration of influenza illness{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 5,3\par}} \line \u8226? 
Tamiflu was shown to provide up to 89 percent overall protective efficacy against clinical influenza 
in adults and adolescents who had been in close contact with influenza-infected patients{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 4\line \par}} \line In 
children, Tamiflu delivers:\line \u8226? 36 percent reduction in the severity and duration of influenza 
symptoms{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 5\par}} \line \u8226? 44 percent 
reduced incidence of associated otitis media as compared to standard care{\super {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 6\par}} \line \line As 
with any antiviral, a theoretical potential exists for an influenza virus to emerge with decreased sensitivity 
to a drug. Extensive monitoring, by Roche and the independently established Neuraminidase Inhibitor 
Susceptibility Network (NISN) measured the incidence of resistance to NAIs. From around 4000 patients 
treated with Tamiflu resistance was encountered in 0.4 per cent in adults and 4 per cent in children 
aged one to 12. This resistant virus was found to be less virulent than the wild type virus and did 
not affect the course of the illness.\line \line The greatest use of Tamiflu today 
is in Japan. To illustrate this, there were an estimated 16 million influenza infections in Japan over 
the 2004/2005 influenza season. Roche estimates that around 6 million of those individuals infected 
with the influenza virus received Tamiflu. Even with this degree of usage, resistance appears very infrequent. 
\line \line {\b Avian Influenza and Pandemics} \line Most 
avian influenza viruses are not infectious to humans, but, should an avian and a human influenza virus 
co-infect a human or a pig, the virus strains can join, mutate and create a completely new virus, which 
may be transmissible from animals to humans, and from humans to humans. Such a strain would be entirely 
new in composition, so vaccines developed and administered to date to protect humans during seasonal 
epidemics, would be ineffective against this new strain, leaving the population vulnerable to infection. 
Experts believe the next influenza pandemic could result from such a mutation of virus strains.\line \line {\b World 
Health Organisation} \line One of WHO's recommendations as part of its Pandemic Preparedness 
Plan is that countries establish stockpiles of antiviral treatments, which are effective against all 
strains of the influenza virus. The Pandemic Preparedness Plan, along with details of the countries 
that have implemented national plans, can be viewed on the Internet (http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/influenza/WHO_CDS_CSR_EDC_99_1/en/).\line \line {\b About 
Roche} \line Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world\u8217?s leading 
research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As a supplier of 
innovative products and services for the early detection, 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. Roche 
is a world leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of medicines for cancer and transplantation and 
a market leader in virology. 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. Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the Internet (www.roche.com (http://www.roche.com)).\line \line {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 All 
trademarks used or mentioned in this release are legally protected.\par}\line \line {\b Additional 
information} \line - Roche Health Kiosk, Influenza (http://www.health-kiosk.ch/start_grip.htm)\line - 
About Tamiflu (http://www.roche.com/med_mbtamiflu05e.pdf)\line - About influenza (http://www.roche.com/med_mbinfluenza05e.pdf)\line - 
WHO: Global influenza programme (http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/en/)\line - WHO: Avian flu (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/avian_influenza/en/)\line \line \line {\pard\f0\li0\ri0\sa360\sl360\fs18 1 
\u160?Treanor JJ et al. Efficacy and safety of the oral neuraminidase inhibitor oseltamivir in treating 
acute influenza: a randomized, controlled trial. JAMA 2000;283: 1016\u8211?24\line 2 \u160?Kaiser 
et al. Impact of Oseltamivir treatment on influenza-related lower respiratory tract complications and 
hospitalisations. Arch Intern Med. 163:1667-1672 (2003)\line 3 \u160?Nicholson KG et al. Efficacy 
and safety of oseltamivir in treatment of acute influenza: a randomised controlled trial. Lancet 2000; 
355:1845\u8211?1850\line 4 \u160?Welliver R. W. et al. Effectiveness of oseltamivir in preventing 
influenza in household contacts: a randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 2001 Feb 14; 285(6): 748-754\line 5 
\u160?Whitely RJ, Hayden FG et al; Oral oseltamivir treatment of influenza in children, Pediatr Infect 
Dis J 2000; 20: 122-133\line 6 \u160?Roche data on file, 2003\par}\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}
}