Roche's History of Biotechnology

We were one of the first pharmaceutical companies to embrace biotechnology, which led to our acquiring a majority stake in Genentech in 1990. Today our biotech products are helping to improve the lives of countless patients in a variety of disease areas, and we are the numberone maker of biologics. We also invested in polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology when it was still in its infancy — a decision which has helped us to become the global market leader in molecular diagnostics.

Discovering, developing and commercialising new medicines takes time and vision. To stay at the leading edge of innovation, it is essential to invest early in promising new technologies.

One of the technologies we are investing in today is RNA interference (RNAi), which offers a way to target and ‘turn off’ specific genes. RNAi-based medicines could prove a groundbreaking new approach to fighting disease and helping patients.