Genentech Announces Vice President Appointments in Product Operations, Regulatory, and Research

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., June 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genentech, Inc. today announced three vice president appointments in the company's Product Operations, Regulatory, and Research groups: the appointment of David Broad, Ph.D., to vice president and general manager, Oceanside Product Operations; the appointment of John Pinion to vice president, External Quality; and the appointment of Michael Varney, Ph.D., to vice president, Small Molecule Drug Discovery.

David F. Broad, Ph.D. Vice President, General Manager Oceanside Product Operations

David Broad, 52, will join Genentech as vice president and general manager, Oceanside Product Operations. Broad will be responsible for the Facilities and Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing, and Manufacturing Technology departments at the Oceanside facility, reporting to Patrick Y. Yang, Ph.D., senior vice president, Product Operations.

Broad will join Genentech with the acquisition of the Oceanside manufacturing facility from Biogen Idec. Broad has been vice president and general manager of Biogen Idec's West Coast Manufacturing Operations since October 2000. In that role, he was responsible for the design, engineering, construction and startup of the large-scale biotech bulk substance manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California.

"We are very pleased that David will be continuing his leadership role and joining Genentech with the acquisition of the biologics manufacturing facility in Oceanside, California," said Yang. "David has been involved with the Oceanside facility since its inception, and is well respected by his fellow employees and colleagues as a hands-on, thoughtful leader who understands the technical, scientific, engineering, operational and organizational aspects of this new biotech production organization."

Prior to joining Idec Pharmaceuticals (now Biogen Idec), Broad was vice president of Development and Manufacturing at Cell Genesys. Before coming to the United States, Broad held numerous leadership positions of increasing responsibility at Celltech Limited (now Lonza) in Slough, Berkshire, United Kingdom (UK) and was a Senior Development Scientist at Beecham Pharmaceuticals in Worthing, Sussex, UK prior to that. He has 27 years of experience in leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Broad is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles.

Broad holds a Bachelor of Science and a doctorate in Microbiology from the University of London, where he was also a postdoctoral fellow.

John Pinion Vice President External Quality

John Pinion, 39, will join Genentech on July 18 in a newly created position as vice president, External Quality. In this role, Pinion will be responsible for setting Genentech's domestic and international long-term outsourcing strategies for bulk manufacturing, filling, packaging and logistics. Pinion will also provide leadership direction for Genentech's management of strategic quality relationships with domestic and international partners, ensuring that quality and compliance are documented and met at Genentech's contractor locations. He will report to Robert Garnick, Ph.D., senior vice president, Regulatory, Quality and Compliance.

Pinion joins Genentech from Baxter International, where he held several leadership positions including, most recently, vice president, Quality, Renal, Cellular Therapies and Baxter Japan. Prior, Pinion was vice president, Quality, Global Systems and North American Operations at Baxter BioScience. Pinion also served as Director of Quality, Medical Device Manufacturing, at Imagyn, Medical, Inc.

"John has more than 17 years of global experience providing executive leadership and expertise in quality and manufacturing management of device, drug and biologic operations in North America, Canada, Australia, Asia and Western Europe," said Garnick. "We believe Genentech's efforts to continuously improve its quality and compliance programs will benefit from John's extensive experience."

Pinion holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from West Virginia University.

Michael D. Varney, Ph.D. Vice President Small Molecule Drug Discovery

Michael Varney, Ph.D., 47, joins Genentech as vice president, Small Molecule Drug Discovery. In this newly created position, Varney is responsible for directing the small molecule drug discovery efforts at Genentech and oversees the departments of Medicinal Chemistry, Small Molecule Assays and Screening, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, and Early Stage Formulation. Varney reports to Marc Tessier-Lavigne, Ph.D., senior vice president, Research Drug Discovery.

"Michael is an accomplished drug hunter who will be a tremendous asset to our research organization," said Tessier-Lavigne. "Given his extensive experience in drug discovery and development and his exceptional track record as a leader, I am confident that he will make significant contributions to our drug discovery efforts as a member of the R&D leadership team."

"With the continued expansion of our efforts to develop breakthrough therapies for unmet medical needs in oncology, we have been growing our small molecule drug discovery activities both internally and through collaborations," said Richard Scheller, Ph.D., executive vice president, Research. "Michael's breadth and depth of experience make him the perfect leader for these activities.

He is well-known and well-respected throughout the drug discovery community and he will be a superb addition to Genentech's Research department, both as a scientist and as a leader."

Varney joins Genentech from Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was vice president, Drug Discovery. He was responsible for the management and direction of all drug discovery activities at the Pfizer La Jolla, Calif. site. He began his career at Agouron Pharmaceuticals in San Diego in 1987, where he built and led the chemistry teams and infrastructure necessary for the development of small molecule therapeutics and became vice president and head of Research. He continued to serve in leadership roles of increasing responsibility through the acquisition of Agouron by Pfizer.

Varney is a member of two scientific editorial advisory boards and the author of numerous scientific articles.

Varney received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles and holds a doctorate in Organic Synthesis from the California Institute of Technology. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

About Genentech

Genentech is a leading biotechnology company that discovers, develops, manufactures, and commercializes biotherapeutics for significant unmet medical needs. A considerable number of the currently approved biotechnology products originated from, or are based on, Genentech science. Genentech manufactures and commercializes multiple biotechnology products directly in the United States, and receives royalties or other income from companies that are licensed to market its products outside of the United States. The company has headquarters in South San Francisco, Calif., and is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol DNA. For additional information about the company, please visit http://www.gene.com/ .

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