Roche Marks 125 Years of Healthcare Innovation

 

We celebrate our history, our culture and our purpose that guides our next 125 years toward a sustainable, healthy future.

May 9, 2022

What a difference 125 years can make. We at Roche are proud to celebrate our 125th anniversary. Since its inception in 1896, Roche has been a family-owned company – that’s when Fritz Hoffmann’s vision became a reality, founding an industrial healthcare company that could manufacture medicines of consistent quality. 

 

In light of our 125-year anniversary, we see many reasons to celebrate, but also to continue to deliver on our mission to improve people’s health. Each day, our bold science, breakthrough medicines and innovative diagnostic solutions improve the lives of countless people worldwide.

 

And yet, we can count them: In 2020 alone, 28.9 million patients were treated with Roche medicines and 23.4 billion tests were conducted with Roche Diagnostics products.

We celebrate where we’ve been,  what we’re doing and where we’re going. What it’s really celebrating is life – in its beauty and its complexity, as moments to be experienced, shared and remembered. Life - improved by science from despair to hope. To celebrate this historical milestone, colleagues at Roche Diagnostics’ U.S. headquarters in Indianapolis, hosted a two-day Roche 125 Roadshow that featured activities including a visit from Roche’s founding family members André Hoffmann, vice-chairman of Roche’s board of directors, and Jörg Duschmalé, also a Roche board member. During Jörg and André’s visit, they inspired and engaged with local employees and participated in our 125 celebrations. 

 

During our celebration, we highlighted contributions to our local communities:

 

  • Roche Diagnostics employees across the U.S. (Indianapolis, Indiana; Tucson, Arizona; Branchburg, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; and Carlsbad, California) are participating in the annual Children's Walk to raise funds to support the needs of vulnerable children. Employees based out of Indianapolis affiliate headquarters have raised more than $120,000 over the past decade. The money donated and raised supports the Tataya Mato Camp at Jameson Camp, which provides programming for children affected by HIV/AIDS, including overnight summer camping experiences combined with a program of personal growth and support of the child’s family and caregiver. 

  • As part of our company's 125-year anniversary celebration, Roche asked affiliate teams to lead the 125 Roche WishList initiative among our employees. The wishes granted addressed disparities in health, community and the workforce across the U.S. With the help of our business resource groups, these are the top nine wishes representing Roche Diagnostics, Roche Diagnostics Operations and Roche Diabetes Care in the U.S.: TeenWorks, Second Helpings, CHIP (Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention), Gennesaret Free Clinics, Tindley Accelerated Schools Trailblazer Robotics Team, Youth Homes, Earn to Learn, Peace Bridges and Berkeley Free Clinic. These nine nonprofit organizations are set to receive a charitable gift of $5,000 this year, and all employees who submitted a wish will receive $100 to donate to their causes.