The inside scoop on Roche's integration of Genentech

If you'd been a fly on the wall at Roche and Genentech early this year, what would you have seen? Shock, anxiety and lots of quick decision-making, according to a behind-the-scenes story in the Financial Times.

As Genentech reeled from Roche's surprise hostile takeover, Sir John Bell, a non-executive director and Oxford professor, was dispatched to calm ruffled feathers. And Roche chief Severin Schwan (photo [1]) hustled to make decisions, in an effort to offer at least some predictability and stability as the companies integrated. A new structure and new managers were put in place as quickly as possible--because, as Schwan said, "You have stability if you know who your boss is."

But Schwan deferred making a decision on long-term compensation at Genentech until 2011, and took time to figure out who'd be on his top executive team--a team he only recently announced. He tried to keep Genentech's head of product development, Susan Desmond-Hellman (photo [2]), by giving her the job of reviewing "portfolio governance" at both companies, but she ultimately left to become chancellor of the University of California-San Francisco.

The FT article catalogs a host of changes at Genentech, including job cuts, restructuring, and marketing overhauls. And it lists some things that are promised to stay the same, such as the hiring of post-docs to work alongside Genentech scientists. Schwan told the paper that now, the word "integration" hardly even comes up.

- read the FT piece [3]

Related articles:
Finally, Roche and Genentech make a $47B deal [4]
Nail-biting at Genentech as layoffs start
[5]Genentech execs hit the door as Roche takes over [6]
Roche execs take Genentech reins [7]
Genentech just might be safe with Roche [8]