Best Practices:
Genentech
Considered the founder of the biotechnology industry, Genentech is also leading edge in another area – being consistently recognized as a top employer by Working Mother, Science and Fortune Magazine. In January 2008, Fortune again named Genentech to its “100 Best Companies to Work For” for the tenth year in a row. Because of factors that include culture, perks, employee stock ownership and focus on the patient, Genetech even clinched the top spot in 2006.
Genentech was founded in 1976 by the late venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert W. Boyer. According to the Genentech company website, in the early 1970s Boyer and geneticist Stanley Cohen pioneered a new scientific field called recombinant DNA technology. Upon learning about this development, Swanson placed a call to Boyer and requested a meeting (Genentech, 2008). Boyer agreed to give the young entrepreneur 10 minutes of his time. Swanson's enthusiasm for the technology and his faith in its commercial potential were contagious, and the meeting extended from 10 minutes to three hours; by its conclusion, Genentech was born (Genentech, 2008).
The company's goal was to develop a new generation of therapeutics created from genetically engineered copies of naturally occurring molecules important in human health and disease. Within a few short years, Genentech scientists proved it was possible to make medicines by splicing genes into fast-growing bacteria that produced therapeutic proteins (Genentech, 2008). Today Genentech continues to use genetic engineering techniques and advanced technologies to develop medicines that address significant unmet needs and provide clinical benefits to millions of patients worldwide. Their development pipelin ...