richard sheller who led genentech for years has been hired.hy is 23andme getting into pharmaceuticals? carolyn broke this story last night or this morning? this is fascinating to me. ann, who running the company, covered the sector at the time. this is a very big change for them. >> in some ways you could argue it's the natural evolution of the company. first they get genetic day tark they start partnering with farr ma companies to do -- with pharma companies to do startup and now they want to turn those that into drugs. caroline: they just got approval and now they're like, let's make drugs. cory: ann's comments to you were hilarious. caroline: she was joking, she was like, we got that test approved what's next? cory: thart a -- start a drug company, why not? what advantages does 23andme have when it comes to drugs? caroline: a lot of discoveries are based on a single strain, but 23andme has data from 650 test that they've been given permission to use for research. cory: they might be able to discover new things that no one has known before f

. >> reporter: both the drugs were developed at genentech, they point out the therapy isn't knew to most doctors but the clinical trial showing its effectiveness is. the findings were recently published in the new england journal of medicine. >> the study it self is really the result of many years of research here. in fact, about 30 years. in really trying to understand what drives a subset of breast cancer. >> reporter: the drugs may not be for everybody. cost about $11,000 a month. insurance companies cover some patients and genentech also has a program to help people who can't afford it. for michele avery, all those tumors and lesions have disappeared. she will continue treatment under doctor's orders and says it has been life changing. >> it's been a year and a half. and so far, it's been great. >> reporter: ian cole nbc bay area news. >> that's what you want to hear. >>> coming up next the charity that inspired lady gaga and vince vaughn to take a dip into a very icy lake. what's that thing? i moved our old security system out here to see if it could monitor the front yard. why don'

. >> reporter: both drugs were developed it at bay area based genentech.int out the therapy isn't new to most doctors, but the clinical trial showing its effectiveness is. the findings were recently published in the new england journal of medicine. >> the study itself is really the result of many years of research here at genentech. in fact, about 30 years. and really trying to understand what drives a subset of breast cancers. >> reporter: the drugs may not be for everybody. it costs about $11,000 a month. insurance companies cover some patients, and genentech also has a program to help people who can't afford it. for michelle avery, all those tumors. and lesions have disappeared. she'll continue treatment under doctors orders and says it's been life changing. >> it's been a year and a half and so far it's been great. >> reporter: ian cole nbc bay area news. >> best of luck to her. >>> well it's a san francisco bakery with a sweet creation that's become a popular sensation. >> but that bakery might be just a little too popular. nannette miranda reports on

. >> reporter: they were developed at bay area-based genentech. out the therapy isn't new to most doctors, but the clinical trials showing its effectiveness is. the findings recently published in the new england journal of medicine. >> the study itself is really the result of many years of research here at genentech. in fact about 30 years, and really trying to understand what drives a subset of breast cancers. >> reporter: the drugs may not be for everybody. it costs about $11,000 a month, and insurance companies cover some patients and genentech has a program to help people who can't afford it. for michelle avery, all of those tumors and lesions have disappeared. she'll continue treatment under doctor's orders and said it's been life-changing. >> it's been a year and a half and so far it's been great. >> reporter: ian cole nbc bay area news. >>> a big story here in the bay area today, the weather. ski buffs and snowboarders photos from heavenly ski resort. a half foot of snow has fallen over the past 24 hours. a welcome sight. need a lot more to

genentech is one of the three best bay area companies to work for.ortune" says goingle is the best in the united states, google wins for the sixth year in a row. sales force number eight and genentech number nine. >>> stocks wednesday we couldn't keep it in the green. by now you can tell me why. we've been over this a lot of times. we need the fed to get on with it. >>> alibaba has become the latest investor in snapchat. the new investment gives snapchat a paper value of $15 billion. this first reported by the "wall street journal". guys t also makes snapchat one of the most valuable tech startups there is. tesla's worth 24 but it's tesla, they make cars, $24 billion. snapchat 15. >> they reach a lot of young people advertising. >> for sure. >> thank you very much, scott. >>> 5:53 right now. march madness, can you feel it? it is a productivity killer for companies. reportedly. >> a report by challenger, gray and christmas suggests distracted workers could cost employers almost $2 billion in lost wages because people fill out their brackets in the off

the genentech buses. some people are really saying you're creating a two-tier transit system, for the haves and the have nots. >> well, google buses are private and only available to google employees. at leap we're really focused on identifying the problem areas for commuters and enabling the community to give us feedback on where the mass transit infrastructure needs to be complemented. you know, and we look forward to bringing, you know, service to all areas of the city like potrero and sunset and richmond. >> what about -- san francisco of course is a very regulatory-intense place. what are some of the regulatory hurdles you've had to deal with? >> we've collaborated closely with muni to design a route that doesn't take us on restricted streets or get in the way of their operations. we're really interested in looking at the broader network of transportation options available to commuters and make sure we're doing things that make the city work better overall. >> what about bus stops? >> we primarily us

wife were hit she and sam will make similar arrangements that could happen today a whenever that genentech's place where respecting officers in the bay area and across the country to attend. kron4's maureen kelly has new information about the gunman.it's perspective you will hear only on kron4 news. >>darya: bay area cab driver in the up in handcuffs and a sexual assault of a female passenger new u.s. air strikes by this mission is different. female announcer: sunday's your last chance to save big during sleep train's triple choice sale. for a limited time you can choose up to 48 months interest-free financing on a huge selection of tempur-pedic models. or choose to save hundreds on simmons beautyrest mattress sets. you can even choose $300 in free gifts with sleep train's most popular stearns & foster mattresses. the triple choice sale ends sunday at sleep train. ♪ sleep train ♪ your ticket to a better night's sleep ♪ around here, we're all about fast. that's why xfinity is perfect for me. with millions of wifi hotspots all over the place including one right here at the shop now we can stre

the former head at drug developer genentech. scott budman nbc bay area news. >>> just in movement tonight in the stand-off over president obama's immigration order. the justice department today filed an emergency motion with an appeals court to block the actions of this texas judge. when the president announced his executive order to shield millions of undocumented immigrants, that judge responded with an injunction freezing action until a hearing later this month. in today's demand to lift that injunction injunction, the justice department claims it threatens national security in part because it blocks the feds from enforcing immigration law. >>> another u.s. health care worker is headed home from africa with ebola. the worker is expected to be admitted to the national institutes of health at bethesda, maryland. doctors are not releasing any information exempt the person had been volunteering in sierra leone. in all ten ebola patients have been treated in the u.s. eight have survived. >>> ellen powell has been grilled on the wi

moment it happened thursday, the genetics testing company 23 and me hired a top scientist formerly of genentech to help the company start to develop its own drugs. 23 and me is a huge database of people's gentlemen metic makeup logic is that will make better drugs. >> this is a more effective way and leads to a higher success rate and higher success means better, cheaper, faster. >> the exciting thing about genetic based drugs is towsage. soon you may be able to get a pill or injection made just for you and you only instead of out of a giant bottle of pills at the pharmacy. targeted drugs, sam and kris, that only work for sam or only work for kris, as opposed to some generic that is 100 milligrams and everybody takes it. >> right, and that would probably decrease the amount of side effects that people see as well. >> it would. you'd get not too much, not too little, just right for but >> so goldilocks dosing. >> right. >>> new this morning we're getting our first look at incredible images of a new island off the pacific, off the coast of tonga. for weeks in january an underwater volcano sent as

they invested in google, net scape, cisco genentech, and over the years they've been trying to find their legacy and, unfortunately, this week their legacy is about how they may or may not descriminated against women systematically within venture capital. one woman, powell in particular says opportunities were lost for her after she had an affair with one of her partners and then complained about it and then eventually sued over it and then was fired. >> so she says the result of a fall-out with a married kleinor partner, this individual basically went after her fundamentally and that that caused her advancement to be stalled. both of them were let go by the company, both the partner with whom she had the relationship and she, is that correct? >> that's correct. the chain of events is a little more complicated than that. he also later harassed another partner, and that is why he was fired. >> she's alleging there was a culture there of -- let's just call it an old boys network, basically, or a frat boys network. >> yeah. that's exactly what it's called. >> that kept her and other women fr