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Bayer’s Pipeline Refresh Focuses On Early Stage Despite Near-Term Growth Needs

Interview With Pharma R&D Head Christian Rommel

 
• By Mandy Jackson

The company is struggling to grow revenue, and the biggest of its four key late-stage assets had a setback, but novel technologies are fueling an R&D strategy shift towards high potential programs.

Christian Rommel
Scrip spoke with Bayer's Christian Rommel during the J.P. Morgan meeting • Source: Bayer

Bayer AG head of pharmaceuticals research and development Christian Rommel acknowledges that the conglomerate is working its way through a difficult period, but he oversees an R&D pipeline that needs more time to show that the company’s investments in technologies like chemoproteomics and cell and gene therapies will pay off. It’s a big ask for investors who have been waiting a while already for Bayer’s strategy to deliver significant returns.

Key Takeaways

  • Bayer is facing a no-growth period for its pharma business at a time when the conglomerate has challenges across all three of its business groups.

“We are in a resilience phase,” Rommel told Scrip in an interview during the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. “We have...

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