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Abstract
Genentech is today one of the leading US biotechnology companies. It was formed twenty years ago, and was amongst the earliest small new companies in biotechnology. Famously founded by Herbert Boyer and Robert Swanson, it has now grown into a company with product sales of over $600 million. In the 1980s hundreds of similar biotechnology companies were formed in the US. Many subsequently failed; however Genentech, along with Cetus, Amgen, Biogen and Genetics Institute not only survived but have been successful, securing key patents and achieving substantial sales of approved recombinant products.