Genentech

British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline said Thursday that it settled litigation against Genentech Inc. that claimed its rival infringed patents covering monoclonal antibodies--cells grown in large fermentation tanks that can be programmed to attack disease. The companies did not disclose details of the confidential settlement, which ends two separate legal actions. As a result of the settlement, Glaxo dropped its appeal of a May 2001 jury verdict in favor of Genentech.

SACRAMENTO - Two of the nation's largest biotech companies - Amgen Inc. of Thousand Oaks and Genentech Inc. of South San Francisco - are fighting in Sacramento to keep a tight grip on some of their most lucrative drugs. At stake is a potential market worth tens of billions of dollars for pricey biological medicines they make from human blood, serums, bacterial cultures, viruses and other microorganisms. They are used to treat cancers, immune disorders and many other complex diseases.

Genentech Inc. said it had formed a special three-member board committee to assess Roche Holding Ltd.'s $89-a-share takeover bid. The bid announced Monday by Roche, which owns 56% of South San Francisco-based Genentech, was "unsolicited and unexpected," said Charles Sanders, the panel's chairman. "The outcome of this process has not been predetermined, and there can be no assurance that the special committee will approve any transaction with Roche," Sanders said.

YARUMAL, Colombia - The unusually high incidence of early-onset Alzheimer's disease in this isolated cattle town has thrust it to the forefront of global efforts to find a cure for the debilitating malady. Next spring, 100 residents of this region in northwestern Colombia who are known to carry a mutant gene linked to the disease will begin taking a therapeutic drug produced by the U.S. biotechnology firm Genentech. The five-year clinical trial, called the Alzheimer's Prevention Initiative, will cost $100 million.

Genentech Inc. said a second patient taking its psoriasis treatment, Raptiva, had developed a rare brain infection. A 73-year-old woman died from progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy after taking Raptiva, South San Francisco-based Genentech said. Genentech reported Oct. 2 that a 70-year-old patient taking the drug for more than four years developed PML.

Genentech Inc., the world's No. 2 biotechnology company by sales, said it intends to appeal any unfavorable ruling in a trial over patent-infringement claims made by the University of California. Lawyers are scheduled to present closing arguments today in the trial, which stems from a 1990 lawsuit. The suit alleges that Genentech's human growth hormone treatment Protropin was developed using stolen proprietary technology developed at the university and protected by a 1982 patent.

Genentech Inc. on Friday raised the lower end of its 2008 forecast on increasing demand for the cancer drug Avastin. Shares of the biotechnology company fell $2.60, or just over 3%, to $78.83 "because they didn't raise the high end" of the forecast range, said Michael King, an analyst with Rodman & Renshaw Inc. in New York. Genentech expects to earn $3.35 to $3.45 a share in 2008, excluding some expenses, the South San Francisco-based company said. That's up from its previous forecast of $3.30 to $3.45, excluding certain expenses such as employee stock options.

Insmed Inc. infringed three patents covering a treatment for abnormally short children, a jury said in a lawsuit brought by Genentech Inc. and Tercica Inc. The jury in federal court in Oakland awarded San Francisco-based Genentech and Brisbane, Calif.-based Tercica $7.5 million in damages and a percentage of future sales of the treatment. Richmond, Va.-based Insmed's Iplex and Tercica's product, called Increlex, are growth drugs used to treat about 6,000 short children.

A judge ordered a divided jury to resume deliberations on whether City of Hope hospital is owed hundreds of millions of dollars in drug royalties from the biotechnology firm Genentech Inc. Superior Court Judge Edward Y. Kakita issued the instruction, which is common in such situations in California courts.

Genentech Inc.'s third-quarter profit rose 6.7% on rising sales of key cancer drugs, the biotechnology company said, matching Wall Street's profit forecast. The results mark another quarter in which the biotech giant either met or barely topped expectations as competition cuts into sales and its cancer treatments reach a saturation point in the market. The company earned $731 million, or 68 cents a share, up from $685 million, or 64 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 17% to $3.41 billion.

In the first change to Apple's leadership since the death of Steve Jobs last month, the company announced that Walt Disney Co. President and Chief Executive Robert Iger would be the Cupertino, Calif., electronics maker's newest board member. At the same time, Genentech Inc. Chairman Arthur Levinson, an Apple board member since 2005, will become the company's non-executive chairman, filling the role Jobs occupied briefly after his resignation as Apple's chief executive in August.

The Food and Drug Administration has reversed course on Avastin, recommending this week that the popular tumor inhibitor no longer be promoted as a safe and effective treatment for advanced breast cancer. The ruling drew howls from some patient advocates and many Republicans, who accused the Obama administration of trying to cut healthcare costs at the expense of cancer patients. Such criticisms are overblown; the Avastin decision was based on the drug's poor performance in follow-up studies, not some callous cost/benefit analysis.

Question: I have heard many good things about Roche Holding. Is it a good investment in light of the new healthcare law? Answer: This Swiss pharmaceutical firm has lost some investment luster. The company has an array of cancer-fighting biotechnology drugs, but its once-robust sales growth has been slowing, the threat of cheaper generic drugs is growing, and the company has suffered setbacks in drug development. To improve its outlook, the company is turning to cost-cutting, with staff reductions expected in a number of markets.

The Justice Department has launched a preliminary investigation into whether some of the nation's largest technology companies violated antitrust laws by negotiating the recruiting and hiring of one another's employees, according to two people with knowledge of the review. The probe is focused on search engine giant Google Inc., rival Yahoo Inc., iPhone maker Apple Inc., biotech firm Genentech Inc.

On April 9, the biotech company Genentech announced that it was withdrawing its psoriasis medicine Raptiva from the market because it can cause a rare but often fatal brain infection called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. Four cases of the disease have been reported in patients taking Raptiva; all had been on the drug for at least three years.

Genentech Inc. is pulling the psoriasis treatment Raptiva off the U.S. market because of links to an often fatal brain infection. The move comes about six months after the company updated the drug's labeling to carry warnings of links to a rare nervous system disorder called progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. Genentech, a unit of Swiss drug maker Roche Holding, said it made the decision to pull the drug in conjunction with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Swiss drug maker Roche officially launched its $42-billion hostile offer for the 44% of Genentech Inc. it doesn't already own. As expected, Roche said it would pay $86.50 a share for all remaining publicly held shares of Genentech, the developer of Avastin and other groundbreaking cancer treatments. Roche, which is based in Basil, Switzerland, already holds a 56% stake in Genentech of South San Francisco. Roche said its new offer was aimed directly at shareholders, bypassing the board.

Genentech Inc. said fourth-quarter profit rose 47% on a boost in sales of its key cancer drug, Avastin, but the results and the 2009 outlook were shy of Wall Street expectations. During the quarter, profit reached $931 million, or 87 cents a share, up from $632 million, or 59 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 25% to $3.71 billion. Excluding charges, the biotechnology company earned 95 cents a share, still shy of Wall Street expectations. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters forecast profit of 96 cents a share on revenue of $3.66 billion.

Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche said it had completed its $46.8-billion takeover of San Francisco biotech firm Genentech. Roche, which already held 55.7% of Genentech stock, said it acquired a further 37.5% of shares by the offer deadline Wednesday.

The pharmaceutical industry's wave of consolidation hit California on Thursday with the announcement of two major deals, including Swiss drug giant Roche's agreement to pay $47 billion to gain full control of biotech pioneer Genentech Inc. Roche agreed to pay $95 a share in cash for the 44% of Genentech's stock that it doesn't already own.