Roche to Acquire Disetronic for $1.2 Billion

In a move designed to result in a more integrated approach to diagnosing, treating, and monitoring diabetes, Roche Holding (Basil, Switzerland) has agreed to acquire the Infusion Systems division of the Disetronic Group (Burgdorf, Switzerland) for US$1.2 billion. Disetronic is a leading global supplier of insulin pumps. For the first nine months of its 2002/2003 business year, the company had sales of about $130 million.

Roche is the world's leading provider of diabetes monitoring systems. The acquisition will make the company a leader in integrated diabetes management by offering comprehensive diabetes management solutions, from self-monitoring of glucose to programmable insulin pumps. Following completion of the transaction, the Infusion Systems division will become part of the Diabetes Care unit of Roche Diagnostics. Roche will not acquire the smaller of Disetronic's two divisions, Disetronic Injection Systems AG, which will be sold to Disetronic's founder and chairman and will continue to operate as an independent company.

Industry analysts say Roche is in a competition with Medtronic to develop a kind of artificial pancreas, a device that can automatically sense glucose levels and provide insulin as needed. In fact, Roche and Disetronics have already collaborated on artificial pancreas research. The pharmaceutical company Novartis, which holds 32.7% of Roche's stock, made no comment on the current transaction.

"Bringing our two businesses together will make us pioneering leaders in systems combining blood glucose monitoring and insulin delivery,” said Heino von Prondzynski, head of Roche Diagnostics. "This is the ideal way to link diagnosis and therapy for people with diabetes.”





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