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Jill Shotzberger '00 Serving as Lead Counsel for Biotechnology Company

Jill Shotzberger ’00 works for Genentech, a global biotechnology company on the forefront of developing and manufacturing both pharmaceuticals as well as diagnostics for use in the COVID response. The company has several products currently in clinical trials and was the first company to receive emergency use authorization for our COVID diagnostic testing. 
 
Shotzberger serves as lead counsel for the Government Affairs division of Genentech, where she advises the executive team and participates in engagement with the government in response to the pandemic, including work with Congress, the emergency response departments (FEMA, CDC, BARDA), FDA and the White House to expedite the development of treatments and ensure there is adequate supply of medicines and diagnostics for the millions of patients in need.

What is Genentech, and what is your role there?
We are a large international biotechnology company, and traditionally we have a wide portfolio of medicines that are focused on oncology, rheumatology and neurology issues. Early on in the COVID crisis, the two main areas that our company has been focused on are developing quick diagnostic tests that can be leveraged at mass scale and looking at our medical portfolio to assess if we might have treatment options that could be available to treat those who have COVID symptoms. So almost immediately we had several candidates of medicine that needed to be investigated, and I think the key part of this is that people are anxious for treatments for COVID, but what’s most important is that these treatments are scientifically backed. At a breakneck pace—faster than I’ve ever seen in my career—we have started several clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of a few medicines for COVID treatments, and these are happening around the globe. 

We’ve also been working with the government to help figure out how we can get medicines to the patients who need them most. It’s been a challenge to reach so many patients so quickly who are in dire need of treatment options, and having an international supply chain, where we are used to distributing medicine quickly, we’ve really been working with the government to help them understand some of those pain points where improvements can be made for the future, so that’s pretty exciting as well.

What has work been like since the start of the pandemic?
No day is really quite the same. I work with the FDA to get approval for clinical trials, so that we can test our medicines. I meet with CDC, FEMA and BARDA, some of the agencies that are handling direct response, to discuss how we can get our medicines to the critical hotspots that need it most. A good portion of my job is interacting with government agencies to identify how we can help facilitate medicines and diagnostics tests to people who need them. The legal background that I have also allows me to advise my company on the unique legal challenges that are presented by a national emergency. There’s a whole set of law that deals with national emergency situations, and the flexibility the government has to have in those scenarios. It’s been a crash course in the legal implications and business flexibility to respond in a pandemic and how we can navigate those laws that are rarely ever triggered.

Everything is moving at a faster pace, which is great for the development of medicines overall because knowing now that we can set up clinical trials in weeks instead of months is going to hopefully allow us to do that for other treatments in the future. It’s also very much forcing a new kind of partnership between private companies and the federal and state governments, knowing that no one can go it alone, we’ve really had to work together and bridge what could be gaps in the past to work toward a common goal. It’s fast, furious and a lot of operating in the gray, but that’s what makes it an exciting time.

What do you enjoy most about your job?
I really enjoy the variety. There’s always a new challenge to tackle. One day it might be dealing with international governments and approvals for medicine. Another day it might be figuring out a distribution challenge to make sure that people in rural counties have the same access to medicine that people in New York City might. Tackling that sort of variety is always enriching. In the COVID crisis, the thing that has been the most motivating is everyone really putting their best foot forward to address a common goal. Egos are out of the way, costs are out of the way, the drivers are really trying to do the best for patients, which we try to do all the time, but when you’ve got companies that don’t typically work together, agencies that don’t typically work together, and they’re all trying to tackle that issue, it’s pretty inspiring.

What was your experience like at Tower Hill?
I had a great experience at Tower Hill. I was at Tower Hill from kindergarten all the way through. I feel like Tower Hill set me up for the rest of my career. It allowed me to experiment with so many different aspects of education. Whether it was participating in plays or playing lacrosse or digging into some history issue with Dr. Wasson, just the way that it allows you to flex into so many different areas and not get pigeon-toed really sparked curiosity for the rest of my education, and I will forever be grateful for that.
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