Biomedicine
Genentech’s AI redesign reaches the laboratory bench
FierceBiotech interviewed CEO Ashley Magargee about automation, restructuring and campus plans. She presents AI as a tool for scientists; the interview also describes senior research departures.
Testing agents on a BCA protein assay with Anthropic raised a concrete layout question: must equipment remain on horizontal benches designed around human access? Magargee says the team is examining vertical arrangements. No measured discovery-speed or drug-success improvement is supplied.
Her response to gRED restructuring and scientist exits is that scientific identity remains intact. That is management’s explanation, not proof that staffing changes have no effect.
A centralized research building is planned for 2027–2033. The project sits within Roche’s previously announced $50 billion US commitment, which she acknowledges includes existing plans as well as new investment. The total is neither wholly incremental spending nor completed construction.
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