In accordance with Article 19 of the European Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board of our company as well as persons with regular access to inside information and who are authorized to make important managerial decisions are obliged immediately to notify Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, and the German Federal Financial Supervisory authority (BaFin) of own transactions in our shares or financial instruments based on them. This obligation applies also to other parties who are closely associated with such persons such as spouses, registered civil partners and dependent children. Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, is obliged to immediately publish the information.