Palo Alto, Calif., May 16, 2000 -- Geoff Lawton, Ph.D., has been appointed vice president of Chemistry and Preclinical Sciences in the Neurobiology Unit of Roche Pharmaceuticals in Palo Alto. In this new position, Lawton will be responsible for the Chemistry and Preclinical Science (Drug Metabolism, Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Toxicology) groups supporting discovery and early development activities for the GenitoUrinary and Central Nervous System therapy areas.

Dr. Lawton holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Leeds University, UK. He joined Roche Welwyn, UK, in 1972 directly following doctoral research in synthetic organic chemistry. He has held positions of increasing responsibility since that time. In 1993 he was appointed Director of Chemistry.

At Roche, Lawton reports to Ian Massey, sr. vice president and head, Neurobiology Unit (NBU), Palo Alto.

The Roche pharmaceutical operations in Palo Alto include Roche Bioscience and Roche Global Development. Roche Bioscience is focused on the discovery and early clinical development of innovative new medicines to treat diseases including arthritis, asthma and other respiratory diseases; anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric diseases; genitourinary diseases and osteoporosis. The Roche Global Development organization in Palo Alto manages human clinical studies and works to achieve worldwide regulatory approvals for compounds from the Roche research pipeline.

Located in the Stanford Research Park, Roche employs approximately 1,200 men and women in Palo Alto as part of the Roche Group. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-oriented healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and vitamins. Roche's innovative services address the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, thus enhancing people's well-being and quality of life.

The Roche PaloAlto website is available at www.roche.com/bioscience.