Roche Holding AG

Grenzacherstrasse 124
Basel, 4070

Switzerland

Web Site: http://www.roche.com/

A. Company Profile

Roche (NYSE:RHHBY.PK) is one of world's leading pharmaceutical companies. The company's product portfolio includes innovative treatments across a wide range of therapeutic areas. There are extensive discovery and development programs in the field of oncology at Roche. Roche is a leader in marketing oncological products.

B. Products

Product Pipelines

1. Bondronat

Bondronat (Ibandronate) is a highly potent nitrogen-containing bisphosphonate.

2. Furtulon

Furtulon (5'-deoxy 5-fluorouridine; 5'-dFUrd; Doxifluridine) is an oral anticancer agent that generates 5'-fluorouracil (5'-FU) selectively in tumors. Furtulon is a potent inhibitor of microvessel formation and that the vasoclastic activity of the drug is enhanced by thymidine phosphorylase (TP), which is an essential enzyme for the conversion of doxifluridine to 5-FU.

3. Herceptin

Herceptin (Trastuzumab) is a humanized antibody approved for the treatment of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER2) positive metastatic breast cancer. Herceptin is designed to target and block the function of HER2 protein overexpression. Research has shown that women with HER2 positive metastatic breast cancer have a more aggressive disease, greater likelihood of recurrence, poorer prognosis and approximately half the life expectancy of women with HER2 negative breast cancer.

4. Rituxan

Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in November 1997, Rituxan was the first therapeutic antibody used for treating cancer in the United States.

Rituxan is indicated for the treatment of patients with relapsed or refractory, low-grade or follicular, CD20-positive, B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).

Rituxan works by binding to a particular protein (the CD20 antigen) on the surface of normal and malignant B-cells. From there, it recruits the body's natural defenses to attack and kill the marked B-cells. Stem cells (B-cell progenitors) in bone marrow lack the CD20 antigen, allowing healthy B-cells to regenerate after treatment and return to normal levels within several months.

BiogenIdec, Genentech, and Roche are co-developing Rituxan.

5. Xeloda

Xeloda, Capecitabine, is an anti-metabolites.  It stops cells making and repairing DNA.  The body converts capecitabine into a common chemotherapy drug called 5-fluorouracil or 5FU.