OREANDA-NEWS. May 12, 2015. Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) announced today that Dame DeAnne Julius (66), Member of the Board of Directors since 2002, has decided that she will not stand for re-election to the Board of Directors at the AGM in 2016. The Board decided that Mrs Julie Brown (53), Chief Financial Officer of Smith & Nephew plc, will be nominated for election as a new member of the Board of Directors by the AGM in 2016.

Roche Chairman Christoph Franz: "As a Board member and as Chairman of the Audit Committee Dame DeAnne Julius has made important contributions to the success of Roche. On behalf of the Board I want to express my profound gratitude for her valuable services and wish her all the best for the future.” Christoph Franz added: "I am very pleased that with Julie Brown we are able to propose a leader with significant international commercial and financial experience in the healthcare industry to be elected as a new member of the Board.

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, immunology, infectious diseases, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management. Roche’s personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. Founded in 1896, Roche has been making important contributions to global health for more than a century. Twenty-four medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organisation Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy.

In 2014 the Roche Group employed over 88,500 people worldwide, invested 8.9 billion Swiss francs in R&D and posted sales of 47.5 billion Swiss francs. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan. For more information, please visit www.roche.com.