Genentech has the biotechnology industry's most extensive track record in all phases of bringing new disease treatments to patients — from discovery research through development, commercialization and product operations. With multiple protein-based products on the market for serious or life-threatening medical conditions, Genentech has experience taking a drug from A to Z, transforming the seed of an idea in a lab into a novel therapy for patients in need.

Discovery Research For more than 35 years, Genentech has been dedicated to rigorous and groundbreaking science. Genentech's Research department aims to strike a balance between basic biomedical research and translational research aimed at developing therapies for unmet medical needs. The company also explicitly fosters individual creativity and initiative among its researchers, encouraging scientists to pursue projects of interest in addition to working towards the company's goals. As a result, our approximately 1,100 researchers and scientists and 125 postdocs have consistently published important papers in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. Genentech's Research organization combines the best of the academic and corporate worlds, allowing researchers not only to pursue important scientific questions but also to watch an idea move from the laboratory into clinical development.

Genentech's research organization focuses its efforts on basic and applied science in Oncology, Immunology, Metabolism, Neuroscience, and Infectious Disease. There is a clear clinical need in each of these disease areas, and their underlying biology is compelling and tractable.

Oncology Oncology remains the major focus of Genentech's research organization, with our scientists working to characterize tumor antigens that may be useful in fighting various forms of cancer as well as expanding our expertise about HER pathway, angiogenesis and apoptosis.

Immunology Immunology is a growing area of expertise and emphasis for Genentech, and we are developing several potential therapies for immune-related diseases. The range of diseases involving the immune and inflammatory cells is immense, and there is a pressing need for safer and more effective therapies

Metabolism The mission of the Metabolism Department is to enable the discovery, selection, and development of safe and effective medicines for significant unmet medical needs by elucidating the absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination and pharmacokinetic properties of small molecule drug candidates.

Neuroscience Neuroscience is a growing focus area for Genentech. The mission of the Neuroscience Department is to elucidate the fundamental mechanisms underlying the biology and the diseases of the nervous system, and to translate these discoveries into innovative therapies for neurological disorders.

Infectious Disease The advent of viral infections, the threat of pandemics, and the emergence of antibiotic resistance have made clear the enormity of the unmet medical need in microbial pathogenesis. The department of Infectious Disease was formed to meet this need by harnessing the current explosion of new information about the basic biology of pathogens and host responses for the development of novel therapeutics to combat serious infections.

Development Genentech uses an extensive set of criteria, including scientific rationale and medical need, to determine which projects to move from discovery research into development. Our clinical scientists and medical professionals then perform the essential role of translating basic science into patient benefit. They help Genentech determine which potential new drugs are tested against specific diseases in the clinic and guide chosen drug candidates through the many phases of clinical testing. Genentech is dedicated to evaluating its therapies in rigorous randomized trials. Our approach is to put a drug candidate through tough clinical testing in order to demonstrate its potential benefit as a therapeutic.

To balance resource use with the strongest likelihood of success, Genentech continuously evaluates its pipeline products in order to determine which are the most promising projects to move through the many phases of clinical testing. Genentech's development pipeline continues to grow, with multiple promising projects in our therapeutic focus areas. 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.

Manufacturing Genentech was the first biotechnology company to scale up protein manufacturing successfully from the small quantities used for research to the much larger quantities needed for clinical trials and marketing. Genentech is a world leader in biotech manufacturing, with more FDA-approved manufacturing capacity for the production of biotech medicines than any other company. Over the last two decades, Genentech has built world-class production facilities, developed expertise in commercially viable manufacturing processes and also attracted and retained key personnel with experience in all aspects of large-scale biologics manufacturing.

Genentech's manufacturing expertise and capacity (approximately 330,000 liters of installed fermentation capacity) provide important competitive advantages in the maturing biotechnology industry and position the company well to meet the demands of its promising product pipeline. Genentech currently has three manufacturing facilities in California (South San Francisco, Vacaville and Oceanside). Genentech acquired an Oceanside, California biologics manufacturing facility in June 2005 and received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licensure in April 2007. The Oceanside Campus comprises multi-product biotech manufacturing and clinical operations. In September 2006, Genentech purchased a 75-acre property in Hillsboro, Oregon for the construction and development of a new state-of-the-art Fill/Finish Facility. Genentech broke ground on the 150,000 square feet facility in December 2006. In April 2010, this facility was officially inaugurated.

Commercialization Commercial plays a crucial role in bringing Genentech's therapies to our customers by transforming our scientific innovations into changes in the practice of medicine that enhance and extend patients' lives. Commercial involvement begins early in product development and lifecycle planning. Research, Product Development, and Commercial partner to explore opportunities to apply Genentech's science. These dialogues are supported by market planning to ensure thoughtful understanding of each therapeutic area and by ongoing examination of broad healthcare trends. After launching a new therapy, we use a distinctive consultative selling model to educate healthcare providers about the innovative science behind our medicines, and we take a strategic and data-driven approach to managing the life cycles of our various products.