Roche combining trial groups after Genentech merger

Now that Roche has sealed its pact to acquire all of Genentech, the focus is shifting to Roche's ability to complete the takeover without killing the goose that has laid so many golden eggs. In a conversation with the Wall Street Journal, Roche Chairman Franz Hummer makes comforting sounds about the merger path ahead. To hear Hummer tell it, all those creative types at Genentech are anxious to make it all work. And Roche has no intention of trying to change things overnight--with one exception.

"We are not arriving there with a blueprint of what needs to be done," Hummer tells the Journal. "We'll discuss this jointly to find the best solutions for some issues which do exist, like, with what and how do we replace the [Genentech stock] options plan?"

Most of Roche's post-merger cuts will concentrate on its existing U.S. operations. Genentech's California base will become the pharma giant's U.S. headquarters. Roche's smaller marketing ops will merge into Genentech's larger sales force and much of Roche's facilities in Nutley, NJ will be shuttered.

More importantly, Roche plans to work hard to keep Genentech's R&D independent, with Genentech's head of research reporting directly to CEO Severin Schwan, rather than the head of research and development inside Roche. The big change will come in combining research groups in charge of late-stage trials. That step of the development process is more geared to process, says Roche, rather than innovation.

- read the article in the Wall Street Journal

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