The big news this week—and, for that matter, this year—is Roche’s offer to buy the 44 percent of Genentech that it doesn’t already own. The blogosphere is burning with all the predictable predictions, dire and otherwise, attendant on a big pharma takeover of a biotech. The phrase “killing the goose that’s been laying the golden egg” is used a lot—notwithstanding Roche’s 20-year record of respecting Genentech’s culture and talent with a hands-off approach to partnership.

The low-ball $43.7 billion buyout offer was made late Sunday night. Although widely viewed as a fait accompli, by Friday the Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog was reporting that “it sounds like Genentech may put up a fight.”  (more…)