Bayer HealthCare makes organisational changes
Streamlines administration and strengthens research and development
Bayer HealthCare (BHC) plans to streamline its administration functions in Germany and the US as part of its €1bn cost-cutting programme announced last November. The German pharmaceutical giant said the move would speed up decision-making, simplify operations and generate synergies, particularly at the plants in Leverkusen and Berlin.
The company also aims to strengthen research and development with the appointment of Andreas Busch as Head of Pharmaceutical Research (Global Drug Discovery), and Kemal Malik as Head of Pharmaceutical Development (Global Development). Both men will report to Jörg Reinhardt, chairman of the BHC Board of Management.
The pharmaceuticals business (previously Bayer Schering Pharma) will operate as a BHC division called Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals under the leadership of Andreas Fibig in future. Its headquarters will remain in Berlin.
Other personnel changes include the retirement of Gary Balkema, Head of the Consumer Care Division, on 1 April, and Ulrich Köstlin, member of the Board of Management of Bayer Schering Pharma, on 30 June.
‘Bayer HealthCare has good potential for growth in all of its divisions,’ said Reinhardt. ‘We must further consolidate the existing resources, shorten the decision-making paths and make our structures leaner.’
Reinhardt said this would enable BHC to invest in growth and innovation in new medicines such as the thrombosis drug Xarelto, or VEGF Trap-Eye for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration.
‘The reorganisation of Bayer HealthCare is the logical next step for more innovation and less administration,’ he added.
In the US, BHC plans to consolidate its four East Coast sites into one, as part of the efficiency programme announced last year. A new centre for the 2,500 people employed there will be built in the vicinity of one of the existing sites in the New Jersey/New York region.
BHC had sales of €16bn in 2009.
