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The Roche site Penzberg
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Biotechnology in Penzberg
Research, development & production in Penzberg
Penzberg
Key site for biotech
The Bavarian Roche site Penzberg is one of the largest biotechnology centers in Europe. For decades, scientists in Penzberg
have researched, developed, and produced new biopharmaceutical
ingredients (biologicals) as well as diagnostics. These areas
are combined to provide increasingly personalized medical care.
Penzberg is not only a “Center of Excellence for Therapeutic
Proteins”, where all issues related to research and development
of therapeutic proteins for the Roche Group converge, but also a
“Center of Excellence for diagnostic reagents”.
Biotechnology in Penzberg
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photo: Hermann Rupp
Roche in Penzberg
Lasting visions
Roche steadfastly pursues the vision of developing cutting-edge diagnostics and highly effective therapies.
Patient well-being and corporate responsibility are the values that guide Roche.
A focus on patient demand for high-quality
diagnostic procedures
and medications:
at Roche, the
development of innovative medical therapies adapted to patient
needs is the basis for
corporate success.
Objective and vision
Roche’s top priority is to develop innovative products
for unsolved medical problems. This is the only way
we can continue to make advances in the treatment of
severe illness and disease. Improving people’s health as
well as patients’ quality of life and life expectancy is the
objective that drives everything we do. Being a responsible corporate citizen goes hand in hand with our
commitment to improving people’s health worldwide
through innovation made by Roche.
A leader in biologics
Innovation is the key to success in every sector of
our business. This is why Roche has always been
firmly committed to embracing unconventional ideas
– a stance best shown by our early commitment to
biotechnology, a long-underestimated field that has
since become a very successful part of our operations.
We set the stage with the acquisition of Boehringer
Mannheim as well as partnerships with Chugai and
Genentech. The investment has paid off: today, the
pipeline is full of effective therapeutic proteins and
extremely sensitive diagnostic tests. Roche is currently
the world leader in the manufacture of monoclonal
antibodies, in particular for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications.
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Biotechnology in Penzberg
Penzberg: the cooperation
of pharma and diagnostics
The Bavarian site in Penzberg is a major part of this
success. Research, development and production
for the pharmaceuticals and diagnostics divisions
are combined under one roof in Penzberg, the only
Roche site of its kind in the world. The vision is to
develop efficient treatment methods by having these
two separate disciplines working hand in hand.
This allows the timely development of healthcare
solutions – from early detection with diagnostics to
appropriate medication selection. Thanks to intelligent diagnostics on the one hand and effective medications on the other, successful therapy in the sense
of personalized medicine has become a tangible,
feasible option.
And Penzberg is the epicenter of this effort. More
than 4,200 employees now work here, highly qualified, highly educated professionals.
34 percent hold a college degree, 54 percent have
completed specialized vocational training, and eight
percent have advanced training. Truly striking is the
low turnover in Penzberg. Excluding retirees, only
one percent of the workforce chooses to leave the
Penzberg plant. Still, the average age of employees in
Penzberg in 2006 was just 38.5 years. This is due in
no small part to the company’s incredible commit-
Research, development & production in Penzberg
ment to training new workers. In 2006, 188 trainees,
or 4.9 percent of the total Penzberg workforce, were
employed at the Penzberg site. Site management
forecasts that 90 percent of them will be offered a
permanent job upon completion of their trainee
period.
Employees and functions
C
D
A = 46% production
B = 31% R&D
C = 21% administration
D = 2% management
Lean management:
Only one-fifth of Penzberg employees work
in administration.
More than three-quarters work in research,
development, and
production.
16,000 jobs in the region
High global demand for therapeutic proteins will
secure these jobs over the long term and ensure
that yet more jobs are created in the area. Many in
the region feel that Roche’s 1998 acquisition of the
former Boehringer Mannheim plant was “a stroke
of luck”.
Every employee working directly for Roche indirectly creates another three to four jobs in the area,
meaning that Germany’s largest biotech production
site accounts for another 12,000 to 16,000 jobs in
the beautiful countryside near Munich. It was no
accident that this site was selected. The former
mine site was spacious enough to accommodate the
up-and-coming biotechnology company, and the
company’s foresight paid off in the years after the
facility opened.
Pharmaceuticals production processes cannot tolerate interruptions. For example, twenty-four employees make sure that the site never runs out of pure
water, steam, and process energy. The site also has
its own water treatment facilitiy. Roche cares about
preserving the environment for future generations
and has had all of its processes environmentally
certified.
B
Steady growth: After
acquiring the Penzberg site, Roche has
steadily increased the
number of employees.
More than 4,200
people make a living
directly at Roche. More
than 12,000 additional
jobs depend indirectly
on the site.
A
The Roche site Penzberg – employment trend
3,905
3,459
2,719
2,866
3,073
4,141
4,000
3,500
3,657
3,000
3,277
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Biotechnology in Penzberg
0
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Research, development & production in Penzberg
A textbook total transformation
From coal mining to high-tech
In 1946, biotechnology was considered exotic. Today, biotechnology touches almost every area of
people’s lives, a complete turnaround from the days when enzymes or microorganisms were confined
to beer brewing and baking. The pioneering deeds of scientists relocated to Bavaria by the winds of
war played a major role in this revolution. And this sleepy rural paradise that blossomed into a German
biotech mecca can rightfully call itself the cradle of industrial biotechnology.
The pioneers of Penzberg:
the cradle of enzyme production
A pioneering act in
1978: the first 75,000liter bioreactor is delivered to the Penzberg
site for startup.
Experts consider the founding of biotech pioneer
Genentech in 1976 to be the advent of modern biotechnology. Today, the American company is part of
the Roche Group. Some little-known facts: only two
years later, in 1978, the first large-scale fermentation facilities were built in Penzberg, enabling the
first industrial production of enzymes. The new
production facilities opened the door to broad-scale
use of enzymes and prepared the way for industrial
applications of modern biotechnology. However,
the technology was nothing new – fermenters with
even larger tank capacities had already been used
for many years to brew beer.
With flexibility comes success
What was new, however, was the fact that Penzberg
researchers were flexible enough in their planning
to enable the cultivation of more than 200 different
microorganisms in the same stainless steel fermenters, allowing many different research and diagnostic products to be created at the same plant. Roche
is still able to take on these demanding technological challenges.
A unique feature of Penzberg’s facility is that bacterial cultures and mammalian cells can be cultivated
with the same technologies – while upholding the
highest purity and safety standards. As a result,
the raw materials for six of Roche’s ten best-selling
pharma and diagnostic products come from Penzberg plants. These products alone generate sales of
more than ten billion euros annually, making Penzberg one of Roche’s most important production
facilities in the world.
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Biotechnology in Penzberg
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An “exotic” idea takes flight
The road to success began with the pioneering
work on enzyme analysis led by Dr. Hans Ulrich
Bergmeyer, who advanced biochemical production
methods at the Tutzing site in Bavaria in the 1950s
and 1960s and became the first Head of Research.
The idea of producing medicines using biotechnology in an industrial setting was considered exotic at
the time. Enzymes were initially produced solely for
medical diagnostics.
“Made in Penzberg”:
Products that changed the world
In the late 1960s, Bavaria was home to one of the
most important production facilities for coenzymes,
substrates, and metabolites extracted primarily
from yeast fermentation products. Revolutionary
new products such as the first urine test strip for
measuring blood glucose were created here.
With success came overcrowding – it soon became
clear that Roche was quickly outgrowing the first site
on the western shore of Lake Starnberg and needed
to move to larger quarters.
The closed coal mine on the outskirts of Penzberg
turned out to be an ideal area. Shortly after the cornerstone for the new site was laid in 1972, biochemi-
cal production moved to Penzberg. Success followed
researchers to the new site: the 500 employees working in Penzberg in 1980 mushroomed to more than
4,100 at the end of 2006. By the end of 2006, Roche
had invested more than 1.5 billion euros in the nearcontinuous expansion of the Bavarian site. Driven
by the triumphant success of recombinant pharmaceuticals worldwide, the company has continued to
enlarge the Penzberg site that is so important to the
entire company.
A 1954 photo of the
coal mine in Penzberg
– yesterday’s heavy
industry has become
today’s 350,000 m2
high-tech workplace
in the country for more
than 4,200 people.
The Roche site in Penzberg – capital investment
in millions of euros
million euro
300
275
250
200
200
150
143
100
103
57
67
73
2000
2001
50
66
0
1999
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Biotechnology in Penzberg
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Research, development & production in Penzberg
Research in Penzberg
Center for therapeutic proteins
As a globally active healthcare company, Roche operates research sites around the world. These
sites focus their efforts on the five therapeutic target areas of oncology, virology, inflammatory
disease, metabolic disease, and disorders of the central nervous system. Many of the findings that
emerge from Roche laboratories around the world eventually make their way to Penzberg, where the
company’s central research lab for therapeutic proteins is located.
Therapeutic protein initiative –
success with biologics
To continue its success with biologics, Roche established the Therapeutic Protein Initiative (TPI), a
global, internal company network to develop new
drugs, in 2001.
The idea for the TPI was born in Penzberg, but
it soon garnered strong support from all Roche
research sites. The Bavarian site has a major hand in
the development of every biologic – the roads from
the world’s largest research sites all lead to Penzberg.
And activities that lead to new findings in Basel,
Nutley or Palo Alto are coordinated in Penzberg.
This is true of technical research and development
as well as the generation, production, and engiResearch, development, and production of biologics in Penzberg
1000 employees in the pharmaceutical division
Research
Development
Production
Therapeutic Protein
Initiative
– Technical development
– Process development and
optimization of fermentation and downstream
processing
– EPO and CERA
– Trastuzumab
– Interferon α-2a
– Reteplase
Drug development
for proteins/antibodies
for all Roche indication
groups
Oncology
proteins/antibodies
8
e. g. provision of clinical
test material
Biotechnology in Penzberg
neering of therapeutic proteins such as antibodies.
Penzberg is where production processes are developed and optimized before the active pharmaceutical ingredient is produced. It is not surprising that
the Penzberg site was recently awarded the prestigious title of “Center of Excellence for Therapeutic
Proteins”.
A global network with Bavarian
hub in Penzberg
In addition to working closely with internal Roche
research labs, the scientists also work within a global
network of more than 70 universities and biotech
companies. Integrating their technologies makes it
possible to keep Roche’s own products up to date.
Recent advances have significantly boosted the
quality of earlier biotech agents such as pegylated
interferon and erythropoietin (EPO).
Interferon alpha-2a, which is also manufactured in
Penzberg, is another success story; the older version
suppressed viral infection over the long term in
about ten percent of hepatitis C patients.
A chemically modified version has boosted the
response rate to a remarkable 40 percent. And now
an even more effective variant of the compound has
been developed by Roche in cooperation with two
network partners.
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Joining forces to annihilate Alzheimer’s
In addition to refining and improving existing drugs,
Roche developers focus their energies on finding
completely new treatment options using proteins.
More than 200 Penzberg pharmaceutical researchers
are currently working on about 40 projects. There
is no shortage of up-and-coming treatments: new
suggestions constantly flow in from all corners of
the world. Researchers work on projects in all five
indication groups for which Roche develops medications. These include inflammatory and viral
diseases, disorders of the central nervous system
(CNS), vascular diseases, and oncology, where Roche
wants to consolidate its leadership position with new
antibodies (see photos). However, CNS disorders
such as Alzheimer’s are rapidly becoming a stronger area of focus. Working hand in hand with the
company’s Basel headquarters, Penzberg researchers
are developing a concept for a new antibody to attack
the destructive beta-amyloid plaques found in the
brains of Alzheimer’s patients. The first step is to
develop an antibody prototype. One option is to have
special mice produce the protein. These genetically
modified animals can immediately produce agents
that will work in humans.
Roche is successfully working with external partners
in this area. In the specific case of the Alzheimer’s an-
tibody, Roche and a network partner decided to take
a different track and develop the protein completely
in the laboratory.
Prototype quality was tested in Basel. When a therapeutic antibody proves effective, several modification
stages of fine-tuning ensue. If the fine-tuned antibody has the right characteristics, pilot cell lines can be
developed in Penzberg. These will be used for later
production. After initial pilot studies are complete,
production steps in 100-liter and 1,000-liter bioreactors follow, and the material is used in worldwide
clinical studies. If the product is approved, it can be
produced on an industrial scale.
Successful healing in
mice: Roche is developing new antibodies
to fight cancer.
A promising candidate
inhibited tumor growth
(yellow/green) in mice.
The differences between the untreated
mouse (left) and the
treated mouse (right)
are clearly visible.
Biotechnology in Penzberg
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Research, development & production in Penzberg
Production in Penzberg
Medicine for mankind
Biologics have been available for a quarter-century. While the first biopharmaceuticals were copies of
human hormones such as insulin or EPO, the mechanisms of effect are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Antibodies in particular have recently become the remedies of choice, especially in oncology.
Today, no large pharmaceutical company can afford to ignore biotech research. More than half of
research projects have their origins in biotechnology.
Biopharmaceuticals becoming the new standard
Biopharmaceutical
production:
About 29,000 employees currently work
in Germany’s biotech
industry.
In 1982, the first biotechnologically produced
medication went on the market in the United States:
insulin. Since then, biopharmacy has moved forward
at light speed.
According to AS Insights, an industry information
service, more than 130 biopharmaceutical medications are currently approved for use and marketed
around the world.
And the percentage of biopharmaceuticals continues
to grow. According to BioPharm Insight, one-fourth
of newly approved drugs are produced biotechnologically. If one goes back to earlier stages of develop-
ment, the share of biopharmaceuticals rises; in 2006,
biologics projects accounted for about 53 percent
of total worldwide research projects that were not
yet at the clinical or pre-clinical stages. If this large
group of agents makes it to market in a few years, it
would probably give biologics sales a further boost. In
numbers, this means that sales volume, currently at 60
billion US dollars a year, could skyrocket by 15 to 19
percent a year. Sales could crack the 100 billion dollar
mark by the end of the decade.
Biopharmaceuticals racking up impressive sales:
10 percent of total pharmaceutical sales
According to the German Association of ResearchBased Pharmaceutical Companies (VfA), 2006 sales
of biotechnologically produced drugs topped 3.1
billion euros in Germany alone, accounting for more
than ten percent of total drug sales. “Older” drugs
like insulin and immune modulators accounted for
about two-thirds of that total.
In addition to insulin, growth factors such as
EPO, monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines are
also major sellers. About 29,000 people worked in
the commercial biotechnology sector in Germany
in 2006, according to the information portal at
www.biotechnologie.de. Roche is the largest employer in this group in Germany.
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Biotechnology in Penzberg
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Biologics IV: Largest ever individual
investment completed in record time
The success of Roche’s biotech medications, coupled
with ceaseless advances in technology, require
constant expansions of and upgrades to production
facilities. Roche’s fourth pharmaceutical production
building on the Penzberg campus, Biologics IV, was
the company’s biggest single investment to date.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building
took place in September 2004.
Building construction began in July 2005 and
proceeded in record time. Just two years later, the
high-tech production facility for the trastuzumab
antibody, used to treat breast cancer, was complete.
The validation phase that precedes the actual start of
production will take approximately two more years.
The facility will then be inspected and approved for
use by regulatory authorities.
A highly automated plant
Roche has good reason to be proud. It has incorporated the latest state-of-the-art technology
into antibody production at its new Biologics IV
pharmaceutical production building. The level of
automation at the new building is particularly
impressive. At night, the facility literally runs all by
itself.
The ceaseless stream of technical innovation means
that employees must constantly change and adapt,
whether they are chemists, biotech researchers, or
even trained dairy workers or brewmasters. As a
result, the ever-growing body of technical expertise
requires continuous training of the production
employees. Many of them have worked with “their”
systems for years, becoming highly specialized
employees who keep production running smoothly
around the clock, 365 days a year.
Biologics IV: The fourth
and newest production building at the
Penzberg campus was
dedicated in summer
2007.
Costing 290 million
euros, the building represents Roche’s largest
single investment.
Production of
erythropoietin in
bioreactors at the
Penzberg site:
Keeping up with advances in technology is
a constant challenge
Brisk demand for breast cancer
treatment trastuzumab worldwide
Once the plant passes inspection, 150 employees can
begin producing trastuzumab, an antibody produced
with mammalian cells. The time until production
begins is pressing, as the demand for this drug is
enormous.
Worldwide, about a half-million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year; trastuzumab
treatment during the early or advanced stages of the
disease is an option for roughly one-fourth of these
patients.
Demand is brisk, so Penzberg is not the only facility
that produces the medication. Genentech, a Roche
subsidiary, runs its own production facility to supply
the important US market.
Biotechnology in Penzberg
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Research, development & production in Penzberg
Diagnostics – new tests
Personalized medicine
People often underestimate the importance of diagnostics, but they are the basis for the doctor’s
choice of treatment. Decoding the genome and proteome for humans as well as viruses and bacteria
opens up new options for the field of diagnostics. As a result, the next generation of new, more sensitive
tests that are also often faster are in development. Experience shows that closely interlinked therapy and
diagnostics can not only be extremely helpful to the patient, but also a way to relieve pressure on the
healthcare system.
Diagnostics: a critical stepping-stone
to safety and efficiency
Diagnostics account
for only five percent of
worldwide healthcare
spending, but they are
the basis for more than
two-thirds of all treatment decisions.
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Even after years of extremely intensive research,
many types of cancer cannot be vanquished. However, it is now possible to detect them much earlier,
classify them more accurately, and often do a far
better job treating them. We have diagnostics to
thank for that. Many experts see great promise in
“preventive medicine”. It can help with early detection not just of cancer, but also of more common
diseases such as rheumatism; it can also predict the
success of chemotherapy much earlier. According to
the World Health Organization (WHO), global expenditures for healthcare in 2005 totaled 2.5 trillion
US dollars. Only five percent of that total was spent
on diagnostics, while 16 percent went for medications. According to a Lewin Group analysis, more
Biotechnology in Penzberg
than two-thirds of treatment decisions are made
on the basis of clinical laboratory tests. Therefore,
diagnostics are a key instrument to make a positive
impact on both patient benefit (safety and efficacy
of therapy) and cost (for follow-up medical care).
Diagnostics development:
looking for the needle in the haystack
The path to a successful diagnostic tool is simpler
than the path to an effective medication, but it is still
a long lasting puzzle. It costs about 10 million euros
to develop a completely new instrument. Research
and development take two and a half to three years.
However, modern sequencing and proteomics technologies have dramatically accelerated development.
Today, researchers in Penzberg’s laboratories routinely compare approximately 40 samples of diseased
Research, development & production in Penzberg
tissue with healthy samples. From this material,
they identify five to six thousand interesting genetic differences that could lead to the development
of a new test. However, finding that needle in the
haystack – that key biological difference that marks
the beginning of a disease – is no easy task. These
so-called biomarkers must be more than just reliable
indicators. Ideally, they should also appear in blood
or urine so that a test can access them. Initial raw
data are subjected to a few tests, and only the most
promising marker candidates are pursued further.
About 50 make the initial cut, and initial pilot tests
are developed for these hopefuls. However, this is
nowhere near the end of the road. Routine testing of
large numbers of samples in the lab and in clinical
studies is used to review marker candidates until
suitable ones are pinpointed.
Personalized medicine: just a vision,
or a dream come true?
Many new methods have become established via
these procedures in recent years. Personalized medicine is the guiding principle. Diagnostics experts use
this term to denote the ability to offer patient groups
an individually tailored treatment plan. Pre-existing
conditions as well as the patient’s gender, genotype,
habits and lifestyle can all play a role. The current
mantra of “same symptoms, same disease, same
treatment” will soon be a thing of the past.
Physicians’ improved understanding of the molecular causes of illness has spurred many new concrete
approaches. The goal is to achieve better specific
effectiveness with fewer side effects, and thus a better cost-benefit ratio for all patient groups needing
treatment. These are the true benefits of personalized
medicine.
Role of diagnostics: think again
to re-think their approach to healthcare because
diagnostics are an essential part of modern medical treatment. However, their value has not yet been
recognized here in Germany.
Experts believe that all roads will necessarily lead
to personalized medicine. They also assume that
innovative therapies will become the norm and that
broad acting and non-specific medications will be
pushed out of the market. Germany should be at the
forefront of this trend.
Personalized medicine or customized
therapies: They
reflect the fact that
every individual’s
body chemistry is
just that – individual.
Both patient benefit
and efficiency in the
healthcare system can
be improved with such
methods.
Companion diagnostics:
Breast cancer therapy provides inspiration
Regulatory authorities are pressuring the industry
to develop appropriate diagnostic instruments to
complement new drug therapies, in part due to costcutting campaigns, but with a primary focus on the
benefit to patients. This strategy has already proven
successful for aggressive breast cancer. A simple test
can single out women with fast-growing tumors,
enabling them to receive specially tailored treatment. Tumor cells in these women test positive for a
growth factor called human epidermal growth factor
receptor 2, or HER2.
German scientists carried out important basic
research on this receptor. They discovered that cells
that produce high levels of this surface molecule
receive especially strong growth impulses.
As a result, the tumors are especially aggressive, making post-operative treatment a matter of life or death
for many patients. Thanks to the HER2 genetic test
developed in parallel with the medication, response
rates to treatment with trastuzumab are extraordinarily high.
Efforts to significantly extend survival of HER2positive patients with metastases were ultimately
successful. Experts consider this the most significant
advance in treatment of metastasized breast cancer
in more than 40 years.
However, despite promising possibilities, only a
few new laboratory tests have received their own
reimbursement codes. Insurance companies need
Biotechnology in Penzberg
13
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Targeted therapy
From genes to diagnosis
Same disease, same treatment – that’s a mantra from the past. Modern treatments combine diagnostic
tests and targeted therapies with the goal of achieving better specific effectiveness and fewer side effects.
Maggie Duke, breast
cancer patient:
“Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I
didn’t know that there
were different kinds of
breast cancer. And I
had no idea that there
are different therapies
depending on the kind
of cancer you have. In
my case, the HER2 test
and the subsequent
treatment with trastuzumab saved my life.”
Thanks to passionate
political activism by
patients, the medication was approved
for use in the United
States in a recordbreaking six months.
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Stories of hope: Maggie Duke
Regaining control over the disease
When Maggie Duke mentioned a small lump in her
breast to her doctor following a regular mammogram, he wasn’t concerned at all. However, the lump
became increasingly noticeable and painful, so
Duke, an avid sportswoman, insisted on additional
testing. This is how she came to be diagnosed with
breast cancer in the summer of 1997.
Duke, an American hygiene expert living in Switzerland, was initially in a total state of shock and
couldn’t believe her diagnosis – breast cancer. Despite her fears, she tried to stay positive and hoped
that her life would return to normal after surgical
removal of the tumor. However, this was not to be.
Within a week, she had to undergo another operation to remove more tissue from the tumor site and
a lymph node under her arm. Although the rest of
the breast seemed to be healthy, the cancer quickly
metastasized to another lymph node. Despite ongoing hormone treatment as well as chemotherapy
and radiation, Duke forced herself to keep going to
work every day.
In the summer of 1998, exactly one year after her
initial diagnosis, she was told she had bone cancer.
By the end of the year, it had spread to her liver.
By this point, no one gave Maggie Duke any real
chance of survival.
Her friends kept Maggie’s spirits up and worked with
her to find a solution. One of them told her about
a doctor who had obtained good results with a new
type of therapy – trastuzumab. Maggie had a diagnostic test done that showed her tumor produced
a great deal of HER2. She learned that such tumors
are extremely aggressive, grow quickly, and are very
likely to reoccur.
She was accepted into a clinical study that combined trastuzumab with chemotherapy. The results
surpassed her wildest dreams. Within two and a
half months after beginning treatment, images of
Maggie’s liver showed that the metastases had shrunk
to just one-quarter of their previous size.
Maggie once again felt as though she could get control of her cancer. After two and a half years, Maggie
was able to discontinue chemotherapy and has been
treated solely with trastuzumab ever since. Maggie,
who is now 59, was able to return to a normal life
and go back to her hobbies – including competitive
cycling.
Biotechnology in Penzberg
Research, development & production in Penzberg
The Roche Group
Success by innovating
It all started with the hormone erythropoietin in the early 1990s, when Roche realized the benefits
of biopharmaceuticals. EPO products are still among the company’s top 10 sellers today.
But Roche has also had enormous success with diagnostics: its product line for measuring
blood sugar levels is number three on the sales list. The Penzberg site plays a major role
in six of the ten best-selling Roche products.
2006 – another record year for Roche
New biotech therapies and diagnostics
The Roche Group of Switzerland once again posted
record results for fiscal year 2006. The Group boosted
sales by 17 percent to 26 billion euros, and its profits
of almost 4 billion euros constituted the largest jump
in profits in company history. The Group’s Pharmaceutical Division grew 21 percent in 2006, three times
the growth of the world market. Diagnostics was
able to increase its sales by five percent, maintaining
and consolidating its position as the global market
leader. The market rollout of a new product line
for measuring blood glucose levels was one of the
Diagnostics highlights of 2006.
Last year, Roche had a total of 14 medications
approved for sale and rolled out many new
diagnostic tools, including a new product line
for high-throughput routine tests. Cancer drugs
were also successful. The bevacizumab antibody to
treat lung cancer, trastzumab for early-stage breast
cancer, and rituximab for rheumatoid arthritis were
approved for additional indications. This allowed
the Roche Group to further consolidate its global
leadership in the production of biopharmaceuticals.
Blockbusters – the 10 top-selling biotech drugs worldwide
In billions of US dollars
4.4
4.1
4,000
3.9
3.6
3.2
3.1
3,000
2.9
2.7
2.5
2.4
2,000
1,000
0
Etanercept
Darbepoetin-α
Rituximab
Infliximab Epoietin-α
Trastuzumab
Epoietin-α
Pegfilgrastim
Human
insulins
Sales of most of the
ten biggest-selling
biotech drugs worldwide posted doubledigit sales increases.
Three of the ten
bestsellers, rituximab,
trastuzumab, and
bevacizumab, come
from Roche (violet).
(Source: Nature 2007)
Bevacizumab
Biotechnology in Penzberg
15
Imprint
Publisher:
Roche Diagnostics GmbH
Communications
Nonnenwald 2
82377 Penzberg, Germany
www.roche.de
www.roche.com
www.gesundheitspioniere.de
© 2007
Editor / Realization:
Dr. Patrick Dieckhoff
BIOCOM AG, Berlin
www.biocom.de
Design:
Oliver-Sven Reblin, Berlin
Pictures:
Roche
tourismus & sport oberstdorf
BIOCOM AG
Printed at:
enka-druck, Berlin
Item:
05141206-990
09-07