Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche healthcare company is a leader in science-focused healthcare, combining a strong position for both pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche is the world's largest biotechnology company with specialized drugs in oncology, immunology, infect ology, ophthalmology and neuroscience. Roche is also a world leader in laboratory (in vitro) diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and plays an important role in diabetes care. Roche's personalized healthcare strategy aims to provide medicines and diagnostics that significantly improve patients' health, quality of life and survival. Founded in 1896, Roche has been a major contributor to the global health industry for over a century. 24 of the company's proprietary drugs are listed on the World Health Organization's List of Essential Medicines, including antibiotics, antimalarials and chemotherapy that save lives. Roche has been active in Latvia since the 1920s and resumed operations after a long break in 1993. The company established its representative office in 1997 and in 2005 it was restructured to SIA Roche Latvija. The main scope of the company is to promote sales of pharmaceuticals and diagnostic equipment manufactured by the company in Latvia, to inform doctors, pharmacists and government officials about the latest developments in the field of pharmacy, to follow the development of the pharmaceutical market and to defend the company's interests in Latvia.