Roche and Diagnostica Stago Terminate Partnership

ROTKREUZ, Switzerland and ASNIERES, France, October 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Roche Professional Diagnostics and Diagnostica Stago announced today that the companies have decided to pursue separate paths in the business of Laboratory Coagulation in the territories where Roche distributed the Stago product range. The exclusive sales of Stago products by Roche will continue throughout the entire year of 2011. With the exception of Japan, where Roche Diagnostics Japan will continue to distribute the Stago portfolio within the Japanese market under a separate agreement, Stago will sell its products directly or through other distribution channels.

Stago and Roche have an agreement to ensure that all contractual obligations regarding Stago products that Roche has or will enter into can be fulfilled by Roche during the agreed upon three year transition period.

"The arrangements between Stago and Roche provide our customers with a secure way forward. We have made sure that product supply continues without interruption, and customers can rely on both Roche and Stago to continue to fulfill their needs in laboratory coagulation," said Colin Brown, Head of Roche Professional Diagnostics.

Bertrand Bonnot, COO of Stago, said, "We are convinced that, after almost 40 years of successful partnership, it is the right timing for both companies to follow independent paths. Nevertheless, both Stago and Roche are committed to work together to ensure a seamless transition in the coming years."

Both Roche and Stago remain committed to respond to current and future needs of hemostasis customers.

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 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: http://www.roche.com.

About Stago

Stago, created in 1945, is an IVD company which develops and markets reagents and automated systems for the investigation of blood coagulation disorders. Stago is a leading player in Haemostasis. Headquarters, as well as R&D, manufacturing and logistics activities are located mainly in the Paris area (France). Stago products are available in more than 100 countries in the world. In 2010, Stago Group had over 2000 employees worldwide. For more information: http://www.stago.com.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.

Contact:
Roche Diagnostics AG
Dr. Daniel Fleiter
Global PR Manager
E-Mail: [email protected]
Tel. +41-41-798-5990

Diagnostica Stago SA
Frédéric Duval
Head of Communication
E-Mail: [email protected]
Tel.: +33-1-46-88-21-96

SOURCE Roche Professional Diagnostics