In Leverkusen, Germany, following Bayer AG's full-year 2018 earnings presentation in February, In Vivo sat down with Stefan Oelrich to discuss his first impressions since taking on the head of pharma role last year, the company’s approach to collaboration and externalization of research, and what Bayer will look like midway through the 2020s when it will hit a major patent cliff.
Bayer has around 50 projects in clinical development, with key novel compounds coming forward in the next few years that it hopes will make up for the profits soon to be lost when two of its best-selling products lose patent exclusivity. The anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban) and the eye drug Eylea (aflibercept) both face patent expirations in four to five years’ time. The two products have been leading drugs in Bayer’s pharma portfolio. Taking the fourth quarter of 2018 as an example, pharmaceutical sales were up 1.8% to €4.29bn ($4.7bn) and Xarelto made up €993m (+8