Roche Genentech Innovation Center Boston Opens, Expanding Companies’ US Research Presence

Editor’s Take: Boston represents a significant end-to-end R&D presence for Roche as its Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism (CVRM) hub.

The Roche Genentech Innovation Center Boston had its grand opening, signifying for those two companies an expansion of their United States research presence. Genentech is a fully owned subsidiary in the Roche Group.

The center’s actual location is in Allston, on Harvard’s Enterprise Research Campus. Roche and Genentech signed a 10-year lease for the 95,000-square-foot space. Up to 500 people—much of that, local talent—will work in research, clinical development, data science, and other disciplines.

Boston’s Importance to Roche

Roche says the Boston area, as one of the world’s leading life sciences communities, represents a significant end-to-end R&D presence. This is particularly true with it being the company’s Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism (CVRM) hub. Bringing together scientists in the aforementioned concentrations, plus artificial intelligence expertise, helps span early-stage discovery through late-stage clinical development.

Roche says it is dedicated to advancing healthcare through academic and scientific collaboration in the Boston life sciences ecosystem. So far, these discovery efforts included combating antibiotic-resistant bacteria, plus using AI in cancer research.

On that last point, the AI-assisted research identified targeted approaches to treatment, analyzing effectiveness of new drugs in clinical trials.

“Scientific innovation has always been the foundation of Roche and Genentech’s success,” Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Group, said. “The U.S. remains one of our most important innovation hubs. This investment in Boston is an important part of our commitment to expand our U.S. manufacturing and R&D footprint. We are strengthening our ability to discover and develop the next generation of medicines for patients.”

Genentech Expanding in Other States

To that end, Roche and Genentech’s investment commitment in the U.S. also recently includes Holly Springs, NC, and Hillsboro, Ore. Combined, the companies have about 25,000 U.S. employees across 15 R&D centers and 13 manufacturing sites in pharma and diagnostics.