Also known as: Genentech
Genentech is a biotechnology company and a member of the Roche Group, focused on discovering and developing medicines for serious diseases. It was founded in 1976 and is based in South San Francisco.
Anthropic announced it will run its own preclinical drug-discovery programs for neglected and rare diseases and launched Claude Science, an AI workbench for researchers. The company has not named specific diseases or detailed how it would bring candidates to market.
Personalized mRNA vaccines showed promise in pancreatic cancer trials with 7 of 16 patients in remission after five years. Stage 2 melanoma patients saw a 50% decreased death risk with personalized mRNA vaccines. U.S. funding cuts and policy shifts have stalled domestic mRNA cancer research while companies move trials abroad.
Sangamo Therapeutics has retained Raymond James to evaluate strategic alternatives to advance its pipeline and maximize stakeholder value. Key assets include the BLA-ready Fabry disease gene therapy ST-920, the STAC-BBB capsid platform generating $88M in fees to date, and multiple neurology programs. No transaction has been agreed and no timetable has been set.
Two new interchangeable Lucentis biosimilars — Lupin's Ranluspec and Formycon/Bioeq's Nufymco — have received FDA approval, while Xbrane's Lucamzi is under review with an October target date. The Lucentis global market was valued at $630 million in 2024.
The FDA has accepted the New Drug Application for giredestrant plus everolimus in ESR1-mutated, ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer. The filing is based on Phase III evERA data showing reduced risk of disease progression or death versus standard-of-care endocrine therapy plus everolimus.
FDA approves Genentech's Tecentriq as first ctDNA-guided adjuvant therapy for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, and Venclexta plus acalabrutinib as first all-oral fixed-duration regimen for CLL.
Trump secured agreements with 16 pharmaceutical companies tied to TrumpRx.gov, including most-favoured-nation pricing and direct-to-patient discounts. Several companies disclosed price cuts for obesity, diabetes, insulin and other medicines.
Guardant Health said its chief medical officer will resign effective May 8, while Delfi Diagnostics appointed Charles Newton to its board and Singular Genomics named John Stark CEO.
European biotechs are exploring new immunotherapy targets beyond PD-1/PD-L1, including BTLA, TIGIT, and SLAMF6. Lund University researchers discovered a SLAMF6-mediated immune evasion mechanism. BioNTech and GenMab are advancing next-generation ICIs and bispecific antibodies through strategic partnerships.
NVIDIA and Eli Lilly announced a $1 billion AI co-innovation lab as AI drug discovery expands across research, trials and manufacturing. Companies including Recursion and Tempus are using large biological and clinical datasets to speed development and support precision medicine.
