Genentech Fast Facts

Founded more than 35 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 member of the Roche Group, has headquarters in South San Francisco, California.

The information below is current as of April 2012.

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: ~11,000

The company has consistently been recognized as a top employer by such publications as FORTUNE, Science and Working Mother. In January 2012, FORTUNE named Genentech to its list of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in the United States for the 14th consecutive year.

Research

Genentech conducts basic and applied research in the areas of in Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Metabolism, and Infectious Disease. Genentech's approximately 1,200 researchers and scientists and 135 postdocs consistently publish important papers in prestigious journals and are among the total citations.

Pipeline

Genentech's development pipeline continues to grow, with multiple promising projects in the following therapeutic focus areas: Oncology, Immunology, Neuroscience, Metabolism, and Infectious Disease. Our clinical development pipeline includes monoclonal antibodies, small molecules, and antibody drug conjugates that address serious unmet medical needs.

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 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.

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.

In 2011, Genentech helped more than 100,000 fully insured, underinsured and uninsured patients with access issues. We have supported co-pay assistance foundations with more than $725 million in donations since 2005. Since 1985, when its first product was approved, Genentech has donated $2.85 billion in free medicine through Genentech® Access to Care Foundation (GATCF) and other product donation programs.