Bayer Adapting Pharma Business

Working on the assumption that its pharmaceutical business will continue to have above-average potential for growth in the future, Germany's Bayer is adapting its business to suit the changing health care environment. Manfred Schneider, group chairman, said at the Fall press conference recently (see also Marketletter December 5): "competition is becoming tougher and we must expect additional state intervention. In order to adapt ourselves to this and create the right conditions for further growth, we will be realigning our activities and making even more effective use of our resources."

He said that the group has made a shift in the area of pharmaceutical research and that it is becoming more and more international. The group's research strategy is three-pronged, with facilities in Germany, the USA and Japan. In Japan, the group is expanding its international research base with a new center in Kansai Science City. Bayer also wants to expand its research facilities in the USA.

Board member Walter Wenninger said that in Japan the focus is on research into allergies, in the USA Bayer's research teams are working in the therapeutic areas of metabolic diseases, biologicals and rheumatism, while in Germany, research focuses on anti-infectives and the central nervous system. Karl Buchel, board member with responsibilities for group research, added that in the USA research is also carried out in the areas of asthma, viral diseases and in biotechnology.