Research The Bayer Scientific Magazin, Edition 28

2

Bayer research 28    July 2015

POINT OF VIEW

---

Photos: P

eter Ginter/Bayer AG (2)

CROP PROTECTION AGENTS SECURE GLOBAL HARVEST YIELDS

Research for bountiful fields

Crops don’t have it easy: hungry insects feast on their leaves 

and roots, weeds compete with them for important nutrients, 

sunlight and space, and fungal diseases damage their leaves and 

stems. That makes a farmer’s life hard as well: for small-holders 

in India, for example, growing cauliflower on just a few hectares 

of land, every cauliflower head they harvest is vital to ensure 

that they can feed their families. Scientists at Bayer CropScience 

are therefore developing  innovative crop protection agents to 

protect their plants and help farmers safeguard their harvest 

yields. Their work involves testing thousands of substances. 

 Dietmar Kleist and Romy Peters (photo right, left to right), for 

example, prepare a new culture medium with fungal spores that 

are then tested on new active substance candidates in auto-

mated screening systems.

Bayer research 28    July 2015

3

---

Following its realignment, Bayer is now set 

for further growth with significant expan-

sion planned for the company’s Life Science 

businesses. At the “Meet Management” inves-

tor conference in Berlin in March 2015, CEO 

Dr. Marijn Dekkers outlined Bayer’s plans to 

considerably increase sales and margins at 

HealthCare in particular through 2017, driven 

mainly by the Consumer Care business and 

new Pharmaceuticals products. Bayer is also 

anticipating progress in its pipeline projects. 

“We want to help improve treatment options 

for patients in our research areas of cardi-

ology, hematology, oncology, gynecology 

and ophthalmology,” said Dekkers. Bayer has 

therefore earmarked EUR 2.2. billion – more 

than half of its research and development 

budget for 2015 – for the Pharmaceuticals 

business alone. Dekkers also expects strong 

growth in the Consumer Health segment, 

driven by the consumer care business acquired 

from Merck & Co., Inc. (USA). Bayer is now 

the world’s number two in non-prescription 

(OTC) products. In the agricultural business, 

too, Bayer is benefiting from its innovative 

crop protection products, and plans to invest 

more heavily in the CropScience business to 

raise annual sales to more than EUR 11 bil-

lion. Overall, Bayer has excellent perspectives 

for growth in the Life Science sector thanks 

to its outstanding expertise in research and 

development, dynamic innovation pipeline 

and strong brands. “We are optimistic for the 

future,” Dekkers concluded.

Innovation company: Bayer plans to expand its Life Science businesses and is relying on the inno-

vative power of colleagues like Katja Twelker from Bayer CropScience.

Corporate objectives:

Growth in the Life Science businesses

Ophthalmology:

Alliance for retinal diseases

Bayer HealthCare and The Johns Hopkins 

University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 

have entered into a five-year collaboration 

agreement to jointly research and develop 

new therapies targeting severe retinal dis-

eases.  “We are looking forward to partnering 

this renowned institute which is among the 

leading scientific and clinical institutions in 

ophthalmology worldwide,” said Professor 

Andreas Busch, Head of Global Drug Discov-

ery at Bayer HealthCare. The collaboration will 

focus on conditions such as age-related mac-

ular degeneration, diabetic macular edema 

and retinal vein occlusion. The researchers 

hope that they will be able to accelerate the 

translation of innovative approaches from the 

laboratory to the clinic. 

India:

Extending the  

vegetables business

Bayer CropScience has acquired SeedWorks 

India Pvt., an Indian company specializing 

in the breeding, production and marketing 

of hybrid seeds for tomatoes, hot peppers, 

okra and gourds. “India is expected to over-

take China as the world’s most heavily pop-

ulated country by 2028 and therefore faces 

a fast-growing demand for affordable food,” 

emphasized Joachim Schneider, Head of Vege-

table Seeds at Bayer CropScience. The company 

is aiming to strengthen its footprint in India’s 

vegetable seed sector to substantially increase 

the productivity and quality of important food 

crops. This will also allow the company to give 

its full support to the nation’s smallholder 

farming base.

Promoting eye health: Bayer and The Johns  

Hopkins University plan to develop innovative 

treatments for eye disease.

Photos: P

eter Ginter/Bayer AG (2), Armin Stelljes/bayer AG (1), Gettyimages (1)

NEWS

4

Bayer research 28    July 2015

---

Bayer HealthCare presented new data on 

investigational oncology compounds with 

new mechanisms of action at the 106th 

Annual Meeting of the American Association 

for Cancer Research in Philadelphia, USA, 

including preclinical data on five small-mol-

ecule inhibitors and an antibody-drug con-

jugate that are currently undergoing Phase 

I clinical development and target various 

signaling pathways of tumor growth and 

progression. “We have doubled up our 

efforts in cancer. It’s now a major focus of 

our research and development activities,” 

said Professor Andreas Busch, Head of Bayer 

HealthCare Global Drug Discovery. The com-

pany also presented clinical biomarker stud-

ies on two Phase II development candidates.  

In addition, the results of joint projects with 

academic partners such as the National 

University of Singapore and the National 

Cancer Centre Singapore were presented 

at the meeting. Other topics included col-

laborations with biotech companies such 

as OncoMed Pharmaceuticals and the proj-

ects promoted by the Innovative Medicines  

Initiative. 

Top crops: for the past 25 years, the record barley harvest was 12.2 tons 

per hectare. A farmer from New Zealand has now broken this record.

Focus on cancer: Bayer employee Kirsten  

Steiner-Hahn analyzes tumor biopsies to 

develop new therapeutic approaches.

AACR Annual Meeting:

New data on cancer research presented

Crop protection agents secure harvests:

Record-breaking barley

Crop protection solutions from Bayer CropScience have helped a New 

Zealand farmer set a new world record: Warren Darling harvested 13.8 

tons of winter barley per hectare at the end of the growing season – a 

new world record, as the Guinness Book of Records confirmed on April 15. 

“World-leading farmers like the Darlings help us reach our ultimate goal 

of ensuring a healthy and sufficient food supply for all people worldwide,” 

said Dr. Holger Detje, Bayer New Zealand Managing Director and Head of 

Bayer CropScience in New Zealand “We are particularly pleased that our 

innovative crop protection solutions safeguarded this magnificent barley 

crop, which has resulted in a world record yield.” Cooperations with farmers 

like the Darlings are a crucial factor in safeguarding the supply of food for 

a growing world population.

Personalized cardiology:

Strengthening 

 collaboration

Bayer HealthCare is extending its alliance with 

the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard: the 

experts will now jointly conduct research into 

the genes and mutations underlying cardio-

vascular disorders. These findings could then 

be used to assess a patient’s risk of cardiovas-

cular disease or to identify new therapeutic 

approaches. High-risk alleles may be associated 

with an increased likelihood of cardiovascular 

disease or be a factor in its severity.

Collaboration with GLOBALG.A.P.:

For sustainable agriculture

Bayer CropScience and GLOBALG.A.P. plan 

to work together more closely in future: 

the partners aim to implement sustain-

able growing methods and help fruit and 

 vegetable growers worldwide meet GLOBAL-

G.A.P. certification standards. “Many farm-

ers lack access to professional local and 

global food markets due to an inability 

to achieve demanding certifications like 

GlobalG.A.P.,” states Dr. Kristian Möller, 

Chief Executive Officer of GLOBALG.A.P. 

Local assessment schemes are therefore 

planned to facilitate entry to global qual-

ity assurance systems. Bayer CropScience 

experts will serve as qualified GLOBALG.A.P. 

Licensed Farm Assurers to advise predom-

inantly small-scale farmers in developing 

countries about crop growing and quality 

assurance. As a next step, pilot projects will 

be set up in all regions together with part-

ners from Bayer’s Food Chain Partnership  

initiative.

NEWS

Bayer research 28    July 2015

5

---