Bayer Pharmaceuticals unveils plans to bring new wave of medical breakthroughs

Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG, and President of Bayer's Pharmaceuticals Division, said at the event the company has made significant progress in growing the pipeline value, clearly demonstrating that their revised R&D strategy is bearing fruit.

"At the same time, we are further expanding our presence in key therapeutic areas, making important progress, and ensuring we are able to deliver our medicines to as many patients as possible," Oelrich said.

Specifically, the company has strengthened its innovation engine with a clear research focus on four core therapeutic areas (cardiovascular diseases, oncology, immunology, neurology, and rare diseases), extended capabilities through collaborations and acquisitions of platform companies, and increased the quality of its pipeline through rigorous portfolio pruning.

Bayer has strengthened its innovation engine with a clear research focus on four core therapeutic areas (cardiovascular diseases, oncology, immunology, neurology, and rare diseases). Photo by Thanh Thanh

"We have been working diligently in research and development over the past 24 months and are making important progress in rebuilding a healthy pipeline," said Christian Rommel, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of Research and Development.

"We will continue to drive this forward with a great sense of urgency, in particular by sustainably generating more innovative Investigational New Drug applications, by increasing the contributions from our platform companies, and by mining for attractive new external partnerships or deals."

Reimagining health for women

By advancing a portfolio of innovative treatments, Bayer is investing in broadening the therapeutic options and raising the standard of care for menopausal women.

By 2030, the world population of women experiencing menopause is projected to increase to 1.2 billion, with 47 million new women entering this phase each year.

Over one-third of menopausal women report severe symptoms, which can last 10 years or more after the last menstrual period, with a relevant impact on their quality of life. Yet, around 30% of women consulting a healthcare professional due to moderate-to-severe symptoms were not prescribed any treatment.

Cecilia Caetano, Head of Global Medical Affairs Women’s Health at Bayer AG, said that we are committed to driving education, raising awareness, and broadening treatment choices to support women across all stages of their lives. Photo by Thanh Thanh

"Many women worldwide are suffering from vasomotor symptoms during their menopausal transition, which, along with sleep disturbances, are common symptoms that can strongly impact their quality of life," said Cecilia Caetano, Head of Global Medical Affairs Women’s Health at Bayer AG. "We are committed to advancing science and breaking the silence by driving education, raising awareness, and broadening treatment choices to support women across all stages of their lives."

Delivering continued growth in oncology

On the other hand, Bayer is making important progress on its journey towards becoming a leading oncology company.

According to Dominik Ruettinger, M.D., Ph.D., Head of Research and Early Development for Oncology at Bayer AG, the company has ramped up the precision oncology development capabilities to unlock the next generation of breakthrough therapies and build a strong, sustainable pipeline across the areas of tumor intrinsic pathways, immuno-oncology, and targeted radiotherapies.

"Addressing high unmet medical needs in cancer care, we are striving to push the boundaries of innovation to provide patients with impactful medicines fitted to their personal needs," Dominik added.

Next to cardiovascular diseases, cancer remains the leading cause of death worldwide.

Despite all the progress, the numbers are set to rise. Observations indicate that the patient population with cancer is changing, with more patients being younger at first diagnosis and more patients being diagnosed at an earlier stage of their disease.

These patients require both efficacious and "kinder," better tolerated medicines, as well as therapies that are designed to overcome drug resistance.

Bayer has invested significantly in innovation targeted at these fields, focusing on expanding the pool of druggable targets representing a true cancer vulnerability and accelerating the drug development process.

With the acquisition of Vividion and its industry-leading chemoproteomics platform, Bayer has strengthened its pharmaceutical research and pipeline in the fields of small molecules and precision therapeutics.

Vividion’s innovative technology allows the identification of previously unknown binding pockets on undruggable targets to generate novel drug candidates in indications with high unmet medical needs.

The promise of cell therapy and gene therapy

Cell therapies and gene therapies bring new, potentially transformative treatment approaches that could ultimately stop or reverse diseases with a once-in-a-lifetime intervention.

Bayer’s continuous investments in the area, from early research to enabling access through manufacturing capacities and platforms, emphasize the therapies’ significance as a key future growth driver for the company and confirm the commitment to turn their promise into tangible treatments for patients.

Bayer, together with its subsidiaries BlueRock and AskBio, is advancing a competitive preclinical and clinical cell therapy and gene therapy portfolio.

Christian Rommel, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of Research and Development, said that since 2020, the company has invested nearly US$3.794 billion (more than EUR3.5 billion) in the build-up of technology platforms for the discovery and development of cell therapies and gene therapies, two of the fastest-growing and most competitive fields in modern healthcare.

"We are excited about the critical progress we are making with our diverse and state-of-the-art therapeutic modality platforms. While these programs are still at an earlier stage, we are confident that we will be able to translate them into meaningful benefits for patients in the future," Rommel said.

New operating model

With its new company-wide operating model, called Dynamic Shared Ownership (DSO), the company is becoming more mission-centric and value-focused.

Guided by customer needs and empowered for rapid decision-making, small cross-functional teams with expertise from all relevant parts of the value chain drive product and customer excellence.

Bayer is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses. Photo by Thanh Thanh

According Oelrich, the introduction of Dynamic Shared Ownership could not come at a better time in Pharma, as it will help identify business opportunities earlier and realize them faster while making more efficient use of the resources, thereby ultimately improving their long-term returns.

"This is not only good news for us as a company but also for the patients we serve, as we hope to bring future innovations to life more efficiently and effectively moving forward," he said.

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition.

In line with its mission, "Health for all, Hunger for none" the company’s products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive by supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population.

The group is committed to driving sustainable development and generating a positive impact with its businesses.

At the same time, the group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability, and quality throughout the world.

In fiscal 2023, the group employed around 100,000 people and had sales of US$51.596 billion (EUR47.6 billion). R&D expenses before special items amounted to nearly US$6.287 billion (EUR5.8 billion). See here for more information.

2024 marks its 30th anniversary of operating in Vietnam. For three decades, the company has implemented many programs to improve the quality of health care for the community, expanding access to drugs and medical solutions for patients in alignment with its mission, "Health for all, Hunger for none".