Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

For decades, the biotech company Genentech has carved out a reputation in the industry as a scientist’s paradise, a place where researchers have developed new therapies in-house and published high-impact papers. But the recent closure of a high-profile research group and multiple rounds of layoffs have many in the scientific community — including some of the company’s current and former employees — concerned about the biotech’s future and scientific strategy.

The worries were prompted last month by Genentech’s confirmation that it would close its cancer immunology group and that that team’s research chief, renowned cell biologist and former Yale professor Ira Mellman, would step aside. The news left Genentech alumni who worked in or with this group reeling; some told STAT the reorganization could signal a strategy shift toward licensing immunotherapies rather than developing products in-house. Such a shift, they warned, may not succeed without the right internal expertise to vet outside assets.

advertisement

Inside the company, a subsidiary of Roche, there has also been unease about its growing embrace of artificial intelligence to accelerate drug discovery.

STAT+ Exclusive Story

STAT+

This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers

Unlock this article — plus daily coverage and analysis of the biotech sector — by subscribing to STAT+.

Already have an account? Log in

Monthly

$39

Totals $468 per year

$39/month Get Started

Totals $468 per year

Starter

$30

for 3 months, then $399/year

$30 for 3 months Get Started

Then $399/year

Annual

$399

Save 15%

$399/year Get Started

Save 15%

11+ Users

Custom

Savings start at 25%!

Request A Quote Request A Quote

Savings start at 25%!

2-10 Users

$300

Annually per user

$300/year Get Started

$300 Annually per user

View All Plans

To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+.

Subscribe