Agreement with Roche Gives UCLA Stem Cell and Cancer Researchers Early Access to Leading-Edge Technologies for the Advancement of Medical Research

MADISON, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--An agreement between UCLA and Roche (SWX:RO)(SWX:ROG)(Pink Sheets:RHHBY) will provide stem cell and cancer researchers with leading-edge technologies that will drive research capabilities and further the understanding of complex disease.

“Our focus is to provide the scientific community with cutting-edge genomic tools that can rapidly advance their research. This collaboration is an innovative approach to working closely with leading institutes, such as UCLA, at an early stage of research in the pursuit of new predictive biomarkers”

The technologies, including the latest generation microarray systems from Roche NimbleGen, high-throughput screening instruments, genetic expression profilers and exome sequencing technologies will provide scientists with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA and UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center with valuable technology directly from Roche’s research and development pipeline.

“Discoveries made by UCLA scientists while working with the technologies will help provide Roche scientists with insight on academic research and can be used to refine Roche operations or develop new applications for the equipment,” said Dr. Michael Teitell, a Broad and Jonsson center researcher who helped design the collaboration.

Under the agreement, Roche will also provide UCLA with advanced reagent, technologies and bioinformatics support to be used in the pursuit of discovering new predictive biomarkers, which will be used as targets for future therapeutics and diagnostics for a host of diseases.

The agreement opens the door for UCLA and Roche scientists to work collaboratively with an initial focus on developing even more effective technologies for academic and commercial use. Future developments, based on these technologies, could lead to clinical trials of promising diagnostics and therapeutics.

Robert Yates, Head of Roche Applied Science states “Our focus is to provide the scientific community with cutting-edge genomic tools that can rapidly advance their research. This collaboration is an innovative approach to working closely with leading institutes, such as UCLA, at an early stage of research in the pursuit of new predictive biomarkers”. Mr. Yates further commented, “By working together at an early stage, we can optimize the technologies and provide the necessary support to improve detection and analysis, and ultimately, the success rate of biomarker discovery.”

Michael Teitell said UCLA researchers will submit project applications for research using the new technology and an advisory committee comprised of Roche and UCLA scientists will review and select the projects that propose the best use of the technology and which are most likely to succeed.

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 personalised healthcare strategy aims at providing medicines and diagnostic tools that enable tangible improvements in the health, quality of life and survival of patients. In 2009, Roche had over 80’000 employees worldwide and invested almost 10 billion Swiss francs in R&D. The Group posted sales of 49.1 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.

For more information about Roche NimbleGen, please visit www.nimblegen.com

About UCLA
UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center has more than 240 researchers and clinicians engaged in disease research, prevention, detection, control, treatment and education. One of the nation's largest comprehensive cancer centers, the Jonsson center is dedicated to promoting research and translating basic science into leading-edge clinical studies. In July 2010, the Jonsson Cancer Center was named among the top 10 cancer centers nationwide by U.S. News & World Report, a ranking it has held for 10 of the last 11 years. For more information on the Jonsson Cancer Center, visit our website at http://www.cancer.ucla.edu.

The stem cell center was launched in 2005 with a UCLA commitment of $20 million over five years. A $20 million gift from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation in 2007 resulted in the renaming of the center. With more than 200 members, the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research is committed to a multi-disciplinary, integrated collaboration of scientific, academic and medical disciplines for the purpose of understanding adult and human embryonic stem cells. The center supports innovation, excellence and the highest ethical standards focused on stem cell research with the intent of facilitating basic scientific inquiry directed towards future clinical applications to treat disease. The center is a collaboration of the David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and the UCLA College of Letters and Science. To learn more about the center, visit our web site at http://www.stemcell.ucla.edu.

For life science research only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures.