Genentech’s $125M Expansion Brings New Jobs to Hillsboro

Genentech’s $125M Expansion Brings New Jobs to Hillsboro
March 26, 2015
By Mark Terry, BioSpace.com Breaking News Staff

Genentech , based in South San Francisco, Calif., and a part of the Swiss-based Roche Group, announced today that it plans to expand its facility in Hillsboro, Ore.

The company plans to invest more than $125 million in the expansion. The facility is a fill/finish plant, warehousing and distribution center.

“This investment in our sterile production operations will result in the addition of up to 100 new skilled manufacturing jobs in the greater Portland area over the next five years,” said Larry Sanders, the general manager and vice president of the Hillsboro Technical Operations in a statement, “potentially bringing the total number of Genentech jobs in Oregon to over 500.”

The company most recently announced on Feb. 18, 2015 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had granted Priority Review for Genentech’s New Drug Application (NDA) for cobimetinib in combination with Zelboraf (vemurafenib). The compound is being tested for the treatment of individuals with a specific BRAF V600 mutation in advanced melanoma.

Priority Review is given to drugs that the FDA thinks may show significant improvements over current therapies for treatment, prevention or diagnosis. The NDA is built on the result of the coBRIM Phase III study, which found the MEK inhibitor cobimetinib plus Zelboraf decreased the risk by half of melanoma growing worse or resulting in death in people who received the combination of drugs.

Genentech has had some controversy lately when it changed distribution channels for three of its cancer treatments. The three drugs, Avastin, Herceptin and Rituxin, are now only available through six authorized specialty distributors: ASD Healthcare, BioSolutionsDirect, Cardinal Health Specialty Distribution, McKesson Plasma and Biologics, Morris & Dickson Specialty Distribution and Smith Medical Partners. Previously hospitals could acquire the drugs through wholesale distributors. The change in policy was met by a great deal of hostility by various hospitals and health institutions, including 130-hospital Ascension Health banning Genentech sales representatives from their facilities.

The Hillsboro facility was opened in 2010. The company is quite optimistic about its pipeline and continued growth, and the Oregon expansion is part of a plan to increase manufacturing capacity.

The company’s plans in Oregon have been greeted with enthusiasm by others in the region. “This announcement is another indicator that this is an exciting time in Oregon’s history,” said the state’s Governor Kate Brown in a statement. “Genentech’s investment in its Hillsboro campus and Oregon’s robust workforce underscore that Oregon is a great place for all businesses to build their future and for the biotech sector to grow.”



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