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Genentech Fast Facts

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Founded more than 30 years ago, Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures and commercializes medicines to treat patients with serious or life-threatening medical conditions. The company, a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, has headquarters in South San Francisco, California.

The below information is current as of March 2010.

Founders and Date of Incorporation Venture capitalist Robert Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert Boyer founded Genentech on April 7, 1976.

Employees Number of Full-Time Employees: ~13,000

The company has consistently been recognized as a top employer by such publications as FORTUNE, Science and Working Mother. In January 2010, FORTUNE named Genentech to its list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in the United States for the 12th consecutive year.

Research Genentech conducts basic and applied research in the areas of in Oncology, Immunology, Disorders of Tissue Growth and Repair, Neuroscience, and Infectious Disease. Genentech's approximately 1,100 researchers and scientists and 125 postdocs consistently publish important papers in prestigious journals and are among the top researchers in the world in terms of total citations.

Pipeline Genentech's development pipeline continues to grow, with multiple promising projects in the following therapeutic focus areas: oncology, immunology, disorders of tissue growth and repair, and neuroscience. The pipeline includes both breakthrough innovations and new indications for existing, well-understood products that may fight more than one disease or more than one form of a disease.

Key Products Since the company was founded in 1976, Genentech has focused its drug discovery efforts on medicines that address significant unmet medical needs. Today Genentech has multiple products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical conditions. In March 2009, Genentech became a wholly owned member of the Roche Group, and Genentech now serves as the headquarters for all Roche pharmaceutical operations in the United States. Accordingly, the list below includes products which were previously marketed as Roche products that are now being marketed by Genentech in the United States.

BioOncology

  • Avastin® (bevacizumab)
  • Herceptin® (Trastuzumab)
  • Rituxan® (Rituximab)
  • Tarceva® (erlotinib)
  • Xeloda® (capecitabine)

Immunology and Ophthalmology

  • ACTEMRA® (tocilizumab)
  • Lucentis® (ranibizumab injection)
  • Rituxan® (Rituximab)
  • Xolair® (Omalizumab) for Subcutaneous Use

Metabolism and Primary Care

  • Activase® (Alteplase)
  • Boniva® (ibandronate sodium)
  • Cathflo® Activase® (Alteplase)
  • Nutropin® [somatropin (rDNA origin) for injection]
  • Nutropin AQ® [somatropin (rDNA origin) injection]
  • Nutropin AQ Pen® for use with Nutropin AQ Pen® Cartridge [somatropin (rDNA origin) injection]
  • TNKase® (Tenecteplase)

Virology and Specialty Care

  • CellCept® (mycophenolate mofetil)
  • Fuzeon® (enfuvirtide)
  • Invirase® (saquinavir mesylate)
  • Pegasys® (peginterferon alfa-2a)
  • Pulmozyme® (dornase alfa)
  • Tamiflu® (oseltamivir phosphate)
  • Valcyte® (valganciclovir HCL)

About Genentech Access Solutions Genentech is committed to people having access to our medicines. Genentech Access Solutions is a team of 350 Genentech employees who help those who need Genentech medicines. This team works with patients and doctors to resolve reimbursement and insurance issues and provides assistance to eligible patients in the United States who do not have insurance coverage or who cannot afford their out-of-pocket co-pay costs.

Since its first medicine was approved in 1985, Genentech has donated approximately $1.5 billion in free Genentech medicine to the uninsured through the Genentech® Access to Care Foundation (GATCF) and other product donation programs. The household income limit to receive free medicine through GATCF is $100,000 per year. Since 2005, Genentech has also donated approximately $390 million to various independent, non-profit organizations that provide financial assistance to those who cannot access needed medical treatment due to co-pay costs.