DR. JAMES N. WOODY APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF ROCHE BIOSCIENCE

PALO ALTO, Calif., U.S., and BASEL, Switzerland, March 19, 1996 -- Roche today announced the appointment of James N. Woody, M.D., Ph.D., as president and general manager of Roche Bioscience effective in April. Dr. Woody succeeds Kenneth Taylor, Ph.D., who has been named general manager of Roche New Zealand.

Dr. Woody, 53, joins Roche from Centocor Inc., where he served as senior vice president, research and development, and chief scientific officer. He joined Centocor in 1991 after a distinguished career in medical research in the United States Navy, culminating in the post of commanding officer, Naval Medical Research and Development Command. In that position, Dr. Woody supervised more than 1,200 staff in 11 worldwide research institutes engaged in biomedical research in transplantation, immunotherapy, blood products and vaccines.

After receiving an undergraduate degree in chemistry, Dr. Woody obtained a medical degree at Loma Linda University in California. He completed residency training in pediatrics at Duke University and the Harvard Medical School, and later earned a Ph.D. in immunology at the University of London. Dr. Woody has held a number of academic posts including professor of pediatrics and microbiology at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.

In his new position at Roche Bioscience, Dr. Woody will report to Dr. Franz B. Humer, head of the Roche Pharmaceuticals Division, based in Basel, Switzerland.

"In Dr. Woody, we are pleased to have found someone who combines the necessary medical, scientific and leadership skills to build on what has already been established at Palo Alto," Dr. Humer said. "We are confident that he will continue successfully with the new approach to drug discovery and development that has already been mapped out at Roche Bioscience."

In addition to heading Roche Bioscience, Dr. Woody will serve as general manager for the Roche Palo Alto site and as president of Syntex (U.S.A.) Inc., of which Roche Bioscience is a division.

Following the acquisition of Syntex in 1994, Roche employs 1,300 people on its Palo Alto campus. Among the operations in Palo Alto are Roche Bioscience, a human pharmaceutical research organization pursuing the early discovery of innovative prescription medicines, and a global development organization that is responsible for the design and administration of human clinical studies. Roche also plans to relocate the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology to the Palo Alto campus from New Jersey.

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