Roger Rush, Ph.D., Joins Roche in Palo Alto as Vice President of Preclinical Research and Development in the Neurobiology Business Unit

PALO ALTO, Calif., February 18, 2001 -- Roche has announced the appointment of Roger Rush, Ph.D., as vice president of preclinical research and development in the Neurobiology Business Unit of Roche Bioscience in Palo Alto, Calif. He is responsible for management of the drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics group, the pharmaceutical chemistry and product development group, and the toxicology group in Neurobiology.

Prior to joining Roche, Rush worked for Scotia Pharmaceuticals and then QuantaNova Limited, both in Stirling, Scotland where he was director of non-clinical development. From 1995 to 1999, Rush was business development director for preclinical services with Quintiles in Edinburgh, Scotland. Prior to that he was the department head of drug metabolism at Syntex Research Scotland in Edinburgh.

Rush obtained a B.Sc. and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Surrey, U.K.

He reports to Ian Massey, D. Phil., senior vice president and head of the Neurobiology Business Unit in Palo Alto.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s premier research-based healthcare groups. With leading businesses in pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and vitamins, Roche offers a uniquely broad range of products and services that span prevention, diagnosis and treatment, thus enhancing health, well-being and quality of life. Roche invests nearly 4 billion Swiss francs, or about $2.4 billion, annually in research and development. Its research focuses on significant unmet medical needs in the management of diseases of the central nervous system and genitourinary tract, metabolic disorders, inflammation, bone diseases, cancer, vascular diseases and virology. Roche employs approximately 7,000 people in research and development and has five global pharmaceutical research centers located in Basel, Switzerland; Kamakura, Japan; Penzburg, Germany; Nutley, N.J., and Palo Alto, Calif.

The Roche Bioscience research center in Palo Alto, Calif., focuses on the discovery and early clinical development of innovative medicines to treat diseases in the following areas: arthritis, asthma and other respiratory diseases; anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and other neuropsychiatric diseases; genitourinary diseases, osteoporosis, HIV/AIDS, and hepatitis C.

Following are URLs for Roche on the web:

Global website: www.roche.com.
U.S. pharmaceuticals business: www.rocheusa.com.
Roche Bioscience http://paloalto.roche.com.