At Genentech, our multi-disciplinary, multi-functional approach to drug development has one common thread: patients. Hanging on the buildings throughout our South San Francisco campus are banners of our patients’ faces. These serve to revitalize our daily goal of using the best science we can to make a difference in people’s lives. That commitment to science and patients has been the catalyst for discoveries across numerous diseases states, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

We have come to understand that, like many diseases, RA is heterogeneous. This means that there are different biologic pathways than can cause RA. That heterogeneity also means that people can get different types of RA that affect them in different ways. This insight led to the understanding that there needs to be more than one treatment modality for RA medications.

Heterogeneity also informs our larger approach to research; we use biomarkers, distinct genetic, or molecular characteristics that are indicators of a particular biological condition or process, to target particular pathways unique to a subset of patients. In asthma, for example, we were able to identify a biomarker in patients with a specific biological pathway for their asthma. We were then able to develop a compound to target that specific pathway. In our quest to find a biomarker in RA, our goal is to eventually reach a point where patients will be able to find an effective treatment without cycling through numerous medications.

Our industry is full of challenges and we make difficult decisions every day. What gives me hope as we continue to push the envelope from discovery through approval and beyond, is, that we continually ask ourselves, “What is the right decision for our patients?”