Roche named Dow Jones Sustainability Index leader in healthcare for third consecutive year

Monday, 12 September 2011

Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) has been recognized as the most sustainable healthcare company globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI), for the third year in a row. The DJSI World and DJSI Europe Indexes track the performance of the leading sustainability companies based on environmental, social and economic performance.

"We are proud to be again designated Supersector leader in healthcare in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. This top ranking is a reflection of Roche's commitment to its employees, communities and the environment. Sustainable corporate policies and practices ultimately create long-term value for our stakeholders and promote innovation," said Severin Schwan, CEO of Roche. "Over the past year we have made progress on our diversity and energy goals as well as introduced new programmes to increase access to our products in developing countries. Our ongoing leadership position will further encourage us to drive these programmes while continuing to discover and develop innovative medicines and diagnostic solutions for patients with unmet medical needs."

Some of Roche's efforts emphasized in this year's DJSI assessment were Roche's programmes focused on attracting and retaining talent, developing future leaders as well as environmental management and reporting. In addition, managing innovation along with our contribution to improving patient health outcomes was highlighted.

In 2009 Roche defined five-year corporate goals, with Key Performance Indicators enabling it to measure the progress. Amongst them, Roche introduced a diversity objective to increase the percentage of women in key positions by at least 50 percent, plus an energy efficiency goal of a 10 percent reduction in energy consumption by end 2014.

About the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI)
The DJSI is the most widely accepted global assessment of how companies approach their social, economic and environmental responsibility. Annual selection into the DJSI World and DJSI Europe follows a thorough analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance by Sustainable Asset Management (SAM), an investment specialist group focused exclusively on sustainability investment strategies. They assess business management practices such as corporate governance, risk management, human resource practices, customer relations, stakeholder engagement and the quality of environmental reporting, in addition to sector-specific elements, such as strategies on access to medicines and innovation in R&D. Roche has been included in the DJSI World and Europe since 2004, and was named Supersector Leader in healthcare in 2009 and again in 2010.

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.