Roche Holding Ltd. : Roche receives clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the new Accu-Chek Nano SmartView blood glucose monitoring system

Basel, 11 January 2012

Roche receives clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the new Accu-Chek Nano SmartView blood glucose monitoring system

Innovative, small, no code device will be available to people with diabetes in the  U.S. in first half of 2012

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that it has received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its Accu-Chek® Nano SmartView blood glucose monitoring system.  The new Accu-Chek Nano meter, which is smaller than a standard credit card, employs a large brilliant backlit display and does not require any manual coding or code key for enhanced ease of use.  It also offers improved functions such as customizable test reminders, pre- and postmeal markers and average glucose calculation. The Accu-Chek Nano meter uses Accu-Chek® SmartView test strips and will be available to customers in the first half of 2012.

"We are very excited to bring this latest blood glucose monitoring technology to the United States," said Luc Vierstraete, Global Head of Roche Diabetes Care. "The Accu-Chek Nano meter is the newest advancement in Roche's more than 35-year commitment to bring state-of-the-art innovations to people with diabetes and their caregivers, and continues our promise to enabling optimal diabetes management. This new system will help us to further leverage and enhance our position in this important market."

According to the 2011 National Diabetes Fact Sheet published by the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, more than 25 million people in the US live with diabetes. However, seven million are currently undiagnosed and 1.9 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years and older in 2010. It is also estimated that 79 million people live with pre-diabetes in the US.

"The Accu-Chek Nano blood glucose meter will appeal to those who prefer a small, discreet meter with maximum performance and is Roche Diabetes Care's latest innovation aimed at enabling diabetes success for our customers and their health care team," said Marc Gibeley, Head of Roche Diabetes Care

North America. "It is easy-to-use and will help people with diabetes regularly check their blood glucose levels before making informed therapy and lifestyle adjustments. We look forward to its launch later this year."

About the Accu-Chek Nano system

The Accu-Chek Nano blood glucose monitoring system offers a small, sleek and discreet design with easy-to-use operating buttons on top of the meter. It is the first single-strip no-code meter in the Accu-Chek product family. This means it does not require any coding previously needed to calibrate the meter to the respective test strips and will use the maltose-independent Accu-Chek SmartView test strips. The Accu-Chek Nano system is part of the same product line as the Accu-Chek Aviva Nano and Accu-Chek Performa Nano systems that have already been launched successfully in many markets in the EMEA, Latin-American and APAC region.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is a leader in research-focused healthcare with combined strengths in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotech company with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, virology, inflammation, metabolism and CNS. Roche is also the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics, tissue-based cancer diagnostics and a pioneer in diabetes management. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2010, Roche had over 80'000 employees worldwide and invested over 9 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche has a majority stake in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information: www.roche.com.

About Roche Diabetes Care

Roche Diabetes Care is a pioneer in the development of blood glucose monitoring systems and a global leader for diabetes management systems and services. For more than 35 years, the Accu-Chek brand has been dedicated to enable people with diabetes to live life as normal and active as possible as well as to empower healthcare professionals manage their patients' condition in an optimal way. Today, the Accu-Chek portfolio offers people with diabetes and healthcare professionals innovative products and impactful solutions for convenient, efficient and effective diabetes management. It encompasses blood glucose meters, insulin delivery systems, lancing devices, data management systems and education programs - contributing to an improved medical outcome. For more information: .