Roche Receives 'Chancellor's Award' From Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International During Annual Conference

INDIANAPOLIS, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Roche, makers of ACCU-CHEK® blood glucose meters, infusion pumps, lancing devices and data management systems for people with diabetes, received the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International's "Chancellor's Award" during the JDRF Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. The "Chancellor's Award" recognizes and honors longstanding JDRF corporate partners.  

During the presentation, JDRF highlighted Roche's "Bag of Hope" program as the cornerstone of the organization's outreach service to families with newly diagnosed children. The "Bag of Hope," which Roche and JDRF have jointly administered since 2004, includes education materials focused on helping children and their families understand more about diabetes and how to successfully manage it. The bag also includes a free ACCU-CHEK Aviva blood glucose meter to help families begin blood glucose testing.

"Since 2004, Roche Diabetes Care has proudly funded nearly 100,000 'Bags of Hope,'" said Luc Vierstraete, senior vice president and general manager, Roche Diabetes Care North America. "The first few hours and days of a diabetes diagnosis are often overwhelming. Each 'Bag of Hope' helps to make this time a little more manageable for these families."

The bags contain products and materials valued at about $100. They are distributed to families by local Roche and JDRF representatives. Since 2004, Roche has committed almost $10 million to the "Bag of Hope" program.

"Roche is an exceptional partner in the education and management of diabetes," said Courtney Davies, national director of corporate relations at JDRF. "During the past several years, the 'Bag of Hope' program has become the cornerstone of our outreach program to families with newly diagnosed children and we thank Roche for its continued funding of this incredibly important educational initiative."

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 and tissue-based cancer diagnostics and is 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 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 or www.roche-diagnostics.us.

About JDRF

JDRF is a leader in setting the agenda for diabetes research worldwide, and is the largest charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes research. The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is a disease which strikes children and adults suddenly and requires multiple injections of insulin daily or a continuous infusion of insulin through a pump. Insulin, however, is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its eventual and devastating complications which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke, and amputation.

Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has awarded more than $1.4 billion to diabetes research, including more than $100 million in FY2009.

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SOURCE Roche Diagnostics Corporation