Experts and representatives of Bayer at the company’s annual Pharma Media Day. The company is bolstering its R&D capabilities and strengthening its early development pipeline.

BERLIN, GERMANY — “With bold investments in industry-leading technology platform companies, Bayer has bolstered its R&D capabilities and strengthened its early development pipeline”, Stefan Oelrich, member of the Bayer AG board of management and president of its pharmaceuticals division, said at the Bayer’s annual Pharma Media Day.

At the event the company presented the latest progress in the ongoing transformation of its pharmaceutical business focusing on accelerating innovative healthcare solutions for the benefits of patients and delivering long-term, sustainable business growth.

Christian Rommel, member of the executive committee of the pharmaceuticals division and head of R&D, said: “Patient needs, precision therapies to address disease complexity as well as advances in science and technology are evolving rapidly. Therefore, we are evolving our R&D strategy and operating model to focus on differentiated, high-value breakthrough medicines. Moving forward, we will focus our early research activities on core strategic areas: oncology, cardiovascular, neurology & rare diseases and immunology, where we believe we can make the biggest possible difference for the patients we serve.”

Accelerating innovations in oncology and cardiology

In oncology treatment, the company has doubled its portfolio of this sector over the past five years, with nearly one third of new molecular entities within Bayer’s development pipeline dedicated to fighting cancer, spanning all phases of clinical development.

With recent major investments, including tin and the acquisition of Vividion Therapeutics, Bayer has fortified its oncology innovation engine substantially.

“Bayer has clear ambitions to become a top oncology company. We are investing in innovative treatments and modalities that have the potential to be transformative for a broad range of cancer patients, who currently have little or no treatment options,” said Christine Roth, member of the Executive Committee of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division and head of the Oncology Strategic Business Unit.

In cardiology sector, the company has set a clear directive towards precision cardiology, exploring innovative approaches across a diverse range of modalities with the aim of pushing the boundaries of innovation for patients with cardiovascular diseases with high unmet needs and potentially reversing life-altering conditions.

Bayer’s advancements in cardiovascular disease are enabled by digitalised, decentralised and more diverse clinical trials, as well as partnerships on industry-leading sources of data, such as the Accelerating Medicines Partnership in Heart Failure and the Broad Institute’s Precision Cardiology Laboratory. 

Christian Rommel, member of the Executive Committee of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division and head of Research and Development, shared: “The number of innovative approaches and novel modalities in our portfolio will triple in future. With those, we will be able to target pathologies and disease mechanisms that were not druggable before.”

Leveraging digital innovation to support diagnosis, drug discovery

Bayer is implementing its innovation strategy in radiology with a key focus on digital medical imaging and artificial intelligence (AI). 

Recently, a medical imaging platform has been launched by Bayer, delivering access to digital applications to support healthcare professionals at various stages of their work, from diagnosis through treatment of their patients.

“Expanding our offerings into the field of AI further advances our strong position in this market. It follows our mission to deliver disease-oriented solutions for patients and their physicians. The transformative expansion of our radiology business is a key element of Bayer's accelerated digital transformation,” said Gerd Krueger, President Radiology, Bayer. 

Currently, the company is partnering with technology leaders such as Google Cloud and biotech leaders such as Recursion Pharmaceuticals, Inc to access new areas of innovation, at the same time, continue to build up extensive in-house expertise to better serve the needs of patients, healthcare professionals and healthcare systems with innovative solutions.

Bayer works on leveraging all the possibilities of the technologies while fully integrating all regulatory and bioethical requirements. — VNS