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Recently I am interested in how technology is applied in Biomedicines, especially in drug discovery. Hence, I open this topic to list down those companies and give a brief overview for each one.
First of all, let’s have a look at some rankings of biotechnology companies:

• The World’s Largest Public Companies in Biotechs by Forbes
• Top 25 Biotech Companies of 2019

Amgen, Gilead Sciences, Celgene, Biogen, and CSL are among the tops that are worth mentioning. Currently, I do not sort these companies based on any standards (size, revenue, strengths), just randomly list them.

Table of Contents:

• Amgen
• Genentech
• Biogen

Amgen

Headquarter: Thousand Oaks, California, U.S.
Founded: 1980
Focuses: Wide range of treatments based on recombinant DNA technology

Founded in 1980 as Applied Molecular Genetics, Amgen became the official name in 1983. The companied underwent a long history of acquisition of many other pharmaceutical and biotech companies such as Synergen, Kinetix Pharmaceuticals Inc, or recently Catherex. Amgen has a diverse portfolio of products. The best selling product lines in 2018 included Neulasta, an immunostimulator for prevenntion of infections in patient undergoing cancer chemotherapy and Enbrel, a tumor necrosis factor blocker for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. Amgen was also the largest Biotech company in 2019.

Genentech

Headquarter: South San Francisco, California, U.S.
Founded: 1976
Focuses: (1) targeted antibody for cancer and (2) medicine for primary progressive multiple sclerosis

Genentech is an American biotechnology company and has became a member of Roche Group. Having been established since 1976, Genentech’s strengths include targeted antibody for cancer and medicine for primary progressive multiple sclerosis.
I came to know about Genentech when I read the news of a newly FDA-approved medicine called entrectinib (Rozlytrek) to treat ROS1-positive, metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and NTRK gene fusion-positive solid tumors. Entrectinib, marketed by Roche, is the third approved tumor-agnostic medicnes by FDA. This drug is attractive to me as its philosophy, which is treatment based on the cancer’s genetic and molecular features without regard to the cancer type or location. As a result, tumor-agnostic drug can be used to treat all cancer types that have the genetic mutation or biomarker that is targeted by the drug. And Entrectinib was developed by Genentech.
Although Genentech is not in the top biggest Biotechs, I still have some good chemicals when mentioning this company. I also a fan of Genentech’s podcasts “Two scientists walk into a bar”. I often listen to those episodes while bathing, cycling, and working.

Biogen

Headquarter: Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.
Founded: 1978
Focuses: neurosciences

Founded in 1978 in Geneva, Biogen is now a leading in Biotechnology with revenue of $14.378 billion in 2019. Their main focus is neuroscience with disease areas including multiple sclerosis, spinal muscular atrophy, and Alzheimer’s Disease.
The product portfolio has a wide range of modalities: small molecules, protein therapeutics, antisense oligonucleotides, and gene therapy.