HEALTH CARE
<i> Times Staff and Wire Reports</i>
Genentech Extends Buy Option: The company said it extended for four years pharmaceutical maker Roche Holdings’ option to buy the rest of the biotech company. Basel, Switzerland-based Roche, which already owns 66% of Genentech Inc., gains the right to buy the firm’s remaining stock at a price that will increase quarterly up to $82 a share. Roche, which purchased 60% of South San Francisco-based Genentech in 1990, will continue to have two of 13 seats on Genentech’s board. Under the agreement, if Roche does not complete the purchase by June 30, 1999, Genentech stockholders can sell their shares to other parties.
