When ‘Business As Usual’ Is Anything But

Pandemic-era innovations helped us prioritize business-critical tasks, identify ways to ramp up our manufacturing capacity and launch medicines reliably and quickly.

When the pandemic hit, Genentech and Roche, like many companies, faced several daunting challenges. During the initial shelter-in-place orders, we had to balance continuing to deliver on scientific innovation for patients awaiting life-saving treatments, while protecting our essential workforce.

As we were evaluating our medicines for potential use against COVID-19, we were met with a sudden and unexpected demand for one of our medicines that was being used as a possible treatment for COVID-19 patients. Meantime, we had “business as usual” to attend to – ensuring the many patients we serve would continue receiving the medicines they depend on, and launching three new medicines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) within a month’s time for rare neurological disease and cancer.

At the start of the pandemic, physicians across the globe began investigating the use of Actemra® (tocilizumab) to treat severe COVID-19 pneumonia. Anticipating that demand for this medicine could be high, we immediately assessed our production plans and identified the best way to make enough of the medicine for potential COVID-19 use while ensuring uninterrupted access for the many patients already relying on Actemra for its approved indications.

“Almost everything for patients, customers and other healthcare stakeholders had to be accessible and shared virtually. None of our ’normal’ launch activities were an option, so the teams pivoted quickly.”

- Nancy Oaks, Head of Customer Engagement

Ramping up production meant adding additional capacity through a technology transfer that would enable us to produce Actemra at our Vacaville manufacturing site. Typically, transferring technology – essentially, the recipes to make our medicines – from one site to another can take more than a year. It involves FDA approval for the site as well as complex procedures, training and protocols. Our teams managed to complete the “tech transfer” in three weeks, performing virtual inspections and establishing an end-to-end supply chain to react to demand faster.

“This has been record-breaking speed for any tech transfer, and it was completed under extreme conditions during the pandemic,” said Senior Vice President Jerry Cacia, head of Roche’s Global Technical Development at Genentech. "We needed to help make sure that Actemra would be available where and when it’s needed most to help patients.”

Amidst a global health crisis, we did all of this while identifying ways to ensure our business continuity onsite staff and our staff working remotely were safe, healthy and connected - leveraging virtual platforms and finding new and flexible ways of working across our business.

Meanwhile, within a month, we received FDA approval for three new medicines and successfully launched these medicines virtually. Traditionally, launches involve providing in-person education to patients and health care providers; our teams realized early on they would have to quickly pivot to digital platforms. We partnered with disease area experts, professional societies and patient advocacy groups on national webinars and live events on social media channels to reach the patient communities awaiting our medicines. We retrained our field representatives to present virtually, and clinical educators virtually taught patients how to self-administer one of the new medicines at home.

“Almost everything for patients, customers and other healthcare stakeholders had to be accessible and shared virtually,” said Nancy Oaks, head of Customer Engagement at Genentech. “None of our ’normal’ launch activities were an option, so the teams pivoted quickly.”

Necessity has indeed been the mother of invention, and these pandemic-era innovations will be lasting. Our lessons in prioritizing and focusing on critical tasks have improved our ability to deliver medicines reliably and faster. Relying on virtual technology and understanding the benefits of its broad reach will allow us more speed and flexibility to handle any future challenges that come our way.