KEVIN A. MARKS APPOINTED VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL COUNSEL
FOR ROCHE PALO ALTO

Palo Alto, Calif., June 10, 2004 – Roche Palo Alto today announced the appointment of Kevin A. Marks to vice president and general counsel of Legal Affairs at Roche Palo Alto. Reporting to Robert B. Stein, M.D., Ph.D., president, Marks is responsible for the Roche Palo Alto patent, legal, environmental health & safety, and quality assurance departments. Marks succeeds Nancy M. Cohen who retired.

Marks joined the Roche Palo Alto Legal department in 2000, most recently holding the position of assistant general counsel. Previously, he specialized in labor and employment law while an associate at Littler Mendelson, P.C., in Oakland, Calif. He was also an associate in the litigation practice at Hoyle, Morris & Kerr L.L.P., Philadelphia, Penn., where his clients included pharmaceutical companies.

\Marks holds an A.B. degree from Lafayette College in Easton, Penn., and a J.D. degree from Villanova University School of Law, Villanova, Penn.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’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’s health and quality of life. Roche employs approximately 65,000 people in 150 countries. The Group has alliances and research and development agreements with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai.

Roche Palo Alto is focused on the discovery and early clinical development of new medicines to treat arthritis; respiratory diseases including asthma and emphysema; central nervous system disorders including Alzheimer's disease, anxiety, depression and schizophrenia; incontinence and other genitourinary disorders; and viral diseases including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C.

Roche employs approximately 1,000 people at its 70-acre Palo Alto campus.

Following are URLs for Roche on the web:

Roche Palo Alto: http://paloalto.roche.com

Global website: http://ww.roche.com

U.S. pharmaceuticals business: http://www.rocheusa.comss