Genentech hiring researchers in big R&D push

Genentech appears poised to announce 70 percent revenue growth for 2006, a monumental increase for a company that started out 30 years ago as a small biotech operation. The huge growth is due to new sales of Lucentis with expanding markets for Avastin, Rituxan and Herceptin. But with its pipeline of new drug prospects growing thin, the focus at Genentech now is beefing up its R&D efforts. Execs say they're hiring new researchers as fast as they can to go to work on a new generation of biologics. Analysts worry that the spectacular growth will have to soon flag as revenue growth begins to settle in at a more measured pace.

- read the article on Genentech's strategy from The Wall Street Journal (sub. req.)

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