Roche, ChanTest Collaborate for Preclinical Cardiac Safety Testing of Drug Compounds Using iCell Cardiomyocytes and xCELLigence RTCA Cardio Instrument

INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 5, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY)
announced today that it has entered into a collaborative agreement with ChanTest
Corporation, a leading ion channel screening provider, to perform cardiac safety
testing of potential drug compounds using Roche’s xCELLigence System RTCA Cardio
Instrument and iCell® Cardiomyocytes, human induced pluripotent stem (iPS)
cell-derived cardiomyocytes provided by Cellular Dynamics International (CDI).

Over the last two decades, a number of potential blockbuster drugs have been
withdrawn from the market or terminated at late stages of development due to
cardiac safety concerns like cardiotoxicity, which results when drugs adversely
affect the heart. In part, this was due to the inadequacy of in-vitro models,
such as animal cells, cell lines and cadaveric tissue. Testing on human heart
cells, such as CDI’s iCell Cardiomyocytes, can help researchers detect potential
cardiac safety issues with drug candidates early in the discovery process –
before in-vivo animal or human testing is conducted — potentially saving drug
companies significant development costs.

In the agreement, ChanTest will use Roche’s xCELLigence RTCA Cardio Instrument
and CDI’s iCell Cardiomyocytes to measure pharmacological responses to a variety
of compounds that have been selected based on their known effects on ion
channels. The assessment will include both acute and long-term exposure
conditions, and will compare results to those obtained using conventional
methods and to known data from preclinical and clinical studies.

About the xCELLigence System RTCA Cardio Instrument

The latest member of the xCELLigence product family, the RTCA Cardio Instrument
is a 96-well cell analyzer for the dynamic monitoring of cardiomyocyte beating
and cellular events by impedance readings. It records electrical impedance of
cells grown on gold microelectrode arrays integrated into the bottom of each
well of an E-Plate Cardio 96. In contrast to single-cell, acute techniques like
patch clamp, the xCELLigence system provides real-time, label-free beating
pattern analysis and is used in a fully controlled environment (within a tissue
culture incubator) for continuous short-term and long-term experiments, allowing
for more physiologically relevant data. More information is available at
www.xcelligence.roche.com.

About ChanTest Corporation (www.chantest.com)

ChanTest’s mission is to serve the research, drug discovery and drug development
needs of customers worldwide with high-value solutions for ion channel and GPCR
biology. Since its inception in 1998, the company has tested compounds for more
than 500 global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and partners with
them to speed the drug development process for the release of better, safer
drugs. ChanTest offers integrated ion channel and GPCR services (GLP and
non-GLP) and reagents; the company’s library of validated ion channel cell lines
and pre-clinical cardiac risk assessment service portfolio are the most
comprehensive commercially available today. Because of ChanTest’s seminal role
in the pre-clinical cardiac safety field led by its founder Dr. Buzz Brown,
along with the company’s uncompromising commitment to quality, ChanTest has been
named the “most trusted and most used fee-for-service provider” for ion channel
screening in an independent survey for the past five years. ChanTest is based in
Cleveland, Ohio. For more information, e-mail info@chantest.com.

About Cellular Dynamics International, Inc.

Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (CDI) is a leading developer of
next-generation stem cell technologies for drug development, cell therapy,
tissue engineering and organ regeneration. CDI harnesses its unique
manufacturing technology to produce differentiated tissue cells from any
individual’s stem cell line in industrial quality, quantity and purity. CDI is
accelerating the adoption of pluripotent stem cell technology, adapting its
methods to fit into standard clinical practice by the creation of individual
stem cell lines from a standard blood draw. CDI was founded in 2004 by Dr. James
Thomson, a pioneer in human pluripotent stem cell research at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. CDI’s facilities are located in Madison, Wisconsin. See
www.cellulardynamics.com.

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 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 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: www.roche.com or
www.roche-diagnostics.us.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law.
XCELLIGENCE is a trademark of Roche. ICELL is a trademark of Cellular Dynamics
International.

For further information, please contact:

Roche Diagnostics
Betsy Cox
Phone: +1 317 521 3911
E-mail: betsy.cox@roche.com

ChanTest
Reese A. Nank, APR
Reputations PR and Marketing
Phone: +1 410 218 9121
E-mail: reese@reputationspr.com

Cellular Dynamics
Joleen Rau
Phone: +1 608 310 5142
E-mail: jrau@cellulardynamics.com

SOURCE Roche Diagnostics