Genentech and Roche are pretty much the only two companies that Ashley Magargee knows. The biopharma veteran has spent two decades at both (including before their 2009 merger) and took over as Genentech CEO at the start of this year.
Her primary job is keeping the R&D engine humming, applying the work of Aviv Regev and the company’s “lab in a loop” model across the pipeline. In an interview with Endpoints News, she talked about how AI will affect the company’s workforce, what it’s like interacting with US lawmakers as a former Capitol Hill staffer, and leading Genentech’s business.
This conversation has been significantly edited for length and clarity.
Max Bayer: Where are you seeing some of Aviv’s AI work in the pipeline, either in clinical-stage or preclinical-stage assets?
Ashley Magargee: What we’re really trying to do is bring AI, as well as genomics and other advanced technologies, to bear on the full R&D process, to actually increase the chance of success. Biology is super hard to get right.
We’ve seen in the clinic, in terms of drug discovery, the ability to speed up what we call the lab in the loop process — with the computational scientists, with the biologists, with the chemists — being able to find those really validated targets. To use AI as well to figure out protein structure and how to create the right protein design.
Bayer: How are you measuring success there and what are you checking in with the teams about in terms of whether or not the technology is maturing at a pace that Genentech can afford?
Magargee: It’s both sort of shots-on-goal that are successful, and then it’s time. And that fundamentally needs to change. Patients are waiting for these innovations. We measure success by, do we find more targets, build molecules that work against those targets, and then can we do that with less time and less cost.
Bayer: What’s the status on those metrics so far?
Magargee: It’s still super early days. But I do think we’ve been able to figure out much more quickly which targets to validate, and that will result in better drug discovery for sure.
Bayer: Is there a therapeutic area where you think gRED (Genentech Research and Early Development) has really had a specific application?
Magargee: Ophthalmology. But I’m not sure it’s really going to come down so clearly into one therapeutic area or disease process over another. I think we’re going to be applying it across all therapeutic areas.
Bayer: What do you say to folks who are concerned that the proliferation of AI, while improving efficiency, is going to cost people jobs? Genentech had a 400-person layoff earlier this year. Were any of those tied to AI’s expansion?
Magargee: This is about arming our scientists with tools that help them make better decisions. Our business, we have to take what a machine helps us or an algorithm helps us identify into a wet lab experiment. We can’t walk away from that part. To answer your question, we see this as an augmentation for scientists, not as a replacement to the jobs that scientists do.
Bayer: So you haven’t cut jobs as a result of cost savings AI has brought you, and there being redundancies with early stage scientists?
Magargee: No.
Bayer: Radiopharma — what’s your appetite in that space, generally speaking?
Magargee: That’s very early-stage and, you know, we’re gonna always continue to invest in broad-based science and innovation. It’s not one that right now, I would say, we’re particularly focused on over our early-stage innovations.
Bayer: One area of R&D that Genentech does not really play in is cardiometabolic. Has that been a mandate from higher-ups?
Magargee: When we look at where the highest unmet need areas are, we do that together. We’re excited to accelerate as much as possible the molecules that we’re seeing from the Carmot acquisition. It’s just a very exciting space for science right now. As well as continuing in neuroscience and ophthalmology, cancer, all of our big stronghold areas.
Bayer: Are you working with Roche on the Carmot development plan?
Magargee: Yes, absolutely. (Editor’s note: In a follow-up email, a Genentech spokesperson said the Carmot team “is also continuing active drug discovery as part of Genentech; our strategy has been to integrate that team and continue to innovate.”)
Bayer: What do you think about this larger national security lens widening to include much more healthcare and much more drug development?
Magargee: We spend a lot of time with the administration with Congress on this topic. We want to make sure that we are protecting America and our security and our intellectual property as much as possible, but also ensuring we can continue to do the innovation worldwide that’s needed.
There is a way that we can continue to do both and be respectful of the emerging legislation that is coming.
Bayer: I want to ask you about the IRA specifically because of your background having worked with former Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD). How do you think about that legislation?
Magargee: It’s an area where Genentech can play a really important role. Ultimately, what we’re all trying to accomplish is lowering patient costs, lowering government expenditure, and ensuring the incentives are in place for scientific advancement.
That was important back then, more than two decades ago, when I worked there. And I spend a lot of time in DC educating policymakers around the challenges facing patients today.
Bayer: Some executives have explicitly mentioned how the legislation has impacted some of their R&D strategies, especially in the early pipeline. Has Genentech had to trim some small molecules out of its early-stage pipeline or reconsidered advancing small molecules post-IRA? Have you changed up lead indications because of that element?
Magargee: We constantly track what are the potential downstream effects of this legislation. We are highlighting that to policymakers, the unintended consequences of that, but at this point, we have not made any changes to the science we’re pursuing.
Bayer: Entering the second six months on the job, what are your aspirations and your goals? How are you thinking about putting your stamp on Genentech?
Magargee: I’ll leave you with four areas of focus: The ability to really continue to tackle the toughest scientific challenges, delivering for patients with our medicines and innovations that are available today, making sure that we can drive access for all patients, and then last is cultivating this unique culture. It’s really a special place. And I think that my job is to amplify that culture.