PRESS RELEASE: Roche Extends Tender Offer for Ventana

Roche Extends Tender Offer for Ventana

Roche, a world-leading healthcare provider of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, announced today that it has extended its offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. to 5:00 p.m., New York City time on Thursday, November 1, 2007. The tender offer was previously scheduled to expire at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on September 20, 2007. All other terms and conditions of the tender offer remain unchanged. As of the close of business on September 19, 2007, approximately 63,541 shares have been tendered pursuant to the offer.

On June 27, 2007, Roche commenced a tender offer to acquire all of the outstanding common shares of Ventana for $75.00 per share in cash. This price represents a 44% premium to Ventana’s close of $51.95 on June 22, 2007 (the last trading day prior to the announcement of Roche’s offer) and a 55% premium to its three-month average as of the same date of $48.30. Greenhill & Co. and Citi are acting as financial advisors to Roche and Davis Polk & Wardwell is acting as legal counsel.

About Roche

Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world’s biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, a market leader in virology and active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammation, metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2006 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totaled 33.3 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.7 billion Swiss francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invests approximately 7 billion Swiss francs a year in R&D. Worldwide, the Group employs about 75,000 people.

Roche’s Diagnostics Division offers a uniquely broad product portfolio and supplies a wide array of innovative testing products and services to researchers, physicians, patients, hospitals and laboratories world-wide.
Roche commenced operations in the U.S. over 100 years ago and these operations include research and development centers that conduct leading-edge work in advancing disease detection and treatment. Our diagnostics and pharmaceuticals businesses in the U.S. employ more than 20,000 people and generate approximately $10 billion in sales (including Genentech), accounting for about 40% of the Roche Group's global annual revenues.

For further information, please visit www.roche.com [1].
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