Levi Garraway

New Capabilities

Oversaw Genentech's role in the venetoclax approval

For decades, patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia—the most common adult leukemia in Western countries, affecting roughly 23,000 Americans each year—faced a difficult choice: endure rounds of intravenous chemotherapy with harsh side effects, or take targeted pills indefinitely, sometimes for life. On February 20, 2026, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a combination of two oral drugs, venetoclax and acalabrutinib, that eliminates both burdens. Patients take pills for roughly one year, then stop. In a trial of 867 patients, 77% remained cancer-free at three years.

Updated Feb 20

New Capabilities

Overseeing fenebrutinib's path to approval

The FDA just rejected Sanofi's tolebrutinib for progressive multiple sclerosis on December 28, 2025—a crushing blow for a drug that had won Breakthrough Therapy status and became the first BTK inhibitor approved anywhere in the world. Meanwhile, Roche's rival drug fenebrutinib is racing toward approval after stunning Phase 3 victories, and Merck's evobrutinib crashed out entirely. Three pharma giants bet billions that brain-penetrating BTK inhibitors could finally slow the relentless neurodegeneration that leaves MS patients in wheelchairs. Only one looks likely to reach the finish line first.

Updated Dec 28, 2025