Recognizing Genentech
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Genentech, whose global headquarters is in my hometown of South San Francisco, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and to honor its profound impact on the biotechnology industry, scientific…
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Genentech, whose global headquarters is in my hometown of South San Francisco, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary and to honor its profound impact on the biotechnology industry, scientific innovation, and the lives of patients across the globe.
As the world's first biotechnology company, Genentech has been an industry pioneer since its founding in 1976. The company's 50-year history began with a single phone call between venture capitalist Robert A. Swanson and biochemist Dr. Herbert W. Boyer. Swanson had heard about Boyer's role in the invention of recombinant DNA technology, research which would soon prove living cells could be programmed to produce life-changing medicines. By the end of the three- hour conversation, the two had conceived a way to commercialize recombinant DNA technology, and Genentech was born. After months of experiments, the team of scientists at Genentech successfully synthesized somatostatin. Even though the experiment had no commercial consequences, it confirmed that recombinant DNA technology could be used to make human proteins and established an important precedent at the company of letting science lead business. Equipped with new knowledge, confidence, and funding, Genentech scientists went on to become the first team to synthesize human insulin, medicine that has changed millions of lives since.
In the decades that followed, Genentech continued to lead. Its scientists developed the first monoclonal antibody approved in the United States for the treatment of cancer, a therapy for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma that helped establish antibody-based treatment as a pillar of modern oncology. Genentech introduced the original HER2-targeted therapy for metastatic breast cancer. In doing so, it launched the first therapeutic antibody paired with a required companion diagnostic test, an innovation that helped realize the promise of precision medicine by ensuring the suitable medication met the correct patient. Furthermore, Genentech introduced the first B-cell depleting therapy approved for both relapsing and primary progressiVe forms of multiple sclerosis, offering hope to patients with a form of the disease that had long lacked approved treatment options. The company's legacy of firsts reflects Genentech's sustained, decades-long institutional commitment to solving problems that others may have judged too difficult, too risky, or too small a market to pursue.
Such commitment continues today at an extraordinary scale. Genentech invests $15 billion annually in research and development, representing one of the largest R&D budgets in the biotechnology industry. Its scientists contribute their experimentation and innovation in five therapeutic areas: Oncology-Hematology, Neurology, Ophthalmology, Immunology, and Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism. Genentech is a proud member of the scientific community and is committed to sharing its discoveries by encouraging its researchers to publish their findings.
Genentech medicines have received 43 FDA Breakthrough Therapy Designations, a distinction reserved for treatments that show substantial improvement over existing therapies for serious conditions. 46 Genentech medicines appear on the World Health Organization's Model List of Essential Medicines, the WHO's own register of the medicines judged most effective, safe, and necessary within a health system. The company has developed more than 40 FDA-approved medicines for serious and life-threatening diseases. Today, it sponsors 250 clinical trials in the United States with 66 investigational medicines currently in development, a pipeline that represents the next generation of potential treatments for patients still waiting for better options.
Scientific breakthroughs only matter if patients can access these life-changing therapies. Genentech has a history of sustained investment in patient assistance. Over the past 30 years, Genentech has helped more than 4 million people through its patient assistance programs. In 2025 alone, the company's Commercial Co-pay Assistance programs supported 213,000 eligible patients, and Genentech Access Solutions helped 320,000 people navigate access issues to obtain the medicines they had been prescribed. Similarly, the Genentech Patient Foundation has assisted more than 900,000 individuals, including 75,000 eligible patients who received free medicine through the Foundation in 2025 alone. Few companies in any industry can point to a four-decade record of direct, sustained assistance to patients in need on this scale.
Genentech's footprint in American science and manufacturing is substantial and growing. The company has committed $50 billion to invest in American infrastructure, supporting the domestic manufacturing and research capacity that keeps cutting-edge medicine grounded in the United States. Genentech has proudly called South San Francisco home since its founding, establishing the city as the birthplace of biotechnology.
Genentech has long maintained that its mission goes beyond the laboratory. Since 2017, it has invested more than $230 million in education, health access, and community wellbeing. For more than ten years, the company has operated Futurelab, a STEM education program that reaches 8,000 K-12 students annually in the South San Francisco Unified School District, educating and inspiring the next generation of American scientists. The company's Genentech Goes to Town program has encouraged employees at sites across the country to patronize local merchants each fall, an effort that has invested more than 84.8 million into more than 300 small businesses.
Looking to the next 50 years and beyond, Genentech is proving itself a role model for its future-minded approach to sustainability and embrace of thrilling new technologies. In 2025, the company completed its transition to 100 percent sustainable electricity across all its sites. Its employees started Green Genes, a grassroots sustainability effort aimed at reducing individual carbon footprint by putting more everyday environmental habits in place. Genentech is also leading the integration of data science and artificial intelligence into their innovation and patient care to ensure it remains at the forefront of scientific progress, recognizing the technology's potential to accelerate Genentech's ability to solve the most pressing health challenges in the world.
Mr. Speaker, Genentech has fundamentally changed the scientific field, and the lives of so many patients, for the better. I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing and celebrating Genentech for its role in creating the biotechnology industry, for its sustained investment in scientific innovation, and for its decades-long commitment to the patients and communities it serves.