Bayer: Science For A Better Life - research - Interview with Dr. Udo Oels

Interview – Dr. Udo Oels, Bayer AG Management Board Spokesman for Research

“Fascinating developments for a better life”

Profile:
Dr. Udo Oels has been a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG since 1996. Previously the chemist headed up Organic Chemicals research before assuming overall responsibility for this business unit. Dr. Oels joined Bayer in 1976. In the four-member Group Management Board, he is responsible for Innovation, Technology and Environment, as well as for the Asia region.

Bayer has presented itself as the "inventor company" for approximately a year now. Does the reality measure up to the ambition in your opinion?

Absolutely. Today we can even see that it was the right signal at the right time. Firstly, it illustrates that research and development have always played a crucial role at Bayer, and secondly it emphasizes that Bayer invests more in the future than any other company in the industry as a percentage of sales. Indeed, our R&D spending will total EUR 2 billion this year. This shows emphatically how important innovation is in our company.

Yet high research expenses alone do not necessarily result in products that achieve market success. Do you have any promising candidates in the pipeline?

Yes, we can justifiably claim that we do. In all areas we are developing fascinating products for a better life – in keeping with our slogan "Bayer: Science For A Better Life". Take Bayer HealthCare, for example. Here we have completely realigned our research activities, and are now concentrating especially on cancer and cardiovascular risk management including diabetes. And we have promising active substances under development in both areas.

In which area can we expect marketing authorization for a product in the near future?

We are furthest along with our cancer drug. Its active ingredient sorafenib significantly extends the progression-free survival rate in patients with kidney cancer, as interim analysis of the Phase III clinical data confirmed. The study results were so good that all patients from the placebo group are now also receiving sorafenib because the findings about sorafenib’s effects made it impermissible to withhold the drug from these patients any longer for moral and ethical reasons. In addition, sorafenib is currently available to all patients with advanced kidney cancer in the United States through suitably qualified treatment centers. We expect to launch sorafenib in the U.S. in the first half of 2006. Yet the various possibilities for sorafenib are still nowhere near exhausted. For example, it is the first active substance of its kind to be tested in a global study involving patients with advanced liver cancer. It is also a possible candidate for the treatment of skin cancer, and studies are currently being carried out for a number of other tumor types.

Are there other potential growth drivers?

Of course. We are expecting further growth in cardiovascular risk management, not least through our Factor Xa inhibitor BAY 59-7939, a new treatment for thrombosis. We plan to start Phase III clinical testing of this substance in the prevention of venous thromboembolism following major surgery before the end of 2005. BAY 59-7939 is an active substance available in tablet form. Bayer HealthCare intends to apply for marketing authorization for the new product in 2007. In 2009, the company plans to file for regulatory approval to market the product for the treatment of venous thromboembolism and for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Do you have any new developments in the field of biotechnology?

Actually we have a lot to offer here. Take Trasylol, for example, which has been used for years to reduce blood loss during major surgery. This product’s active ingredient, the protein aprotinin, was previously extracted from bovine lungs. We are now able to produce it recombinantly, which ensures consistent quality over the long term. We are currently working on scaling up the production process from laboratory to production scale.

Does the same apply to Bayer CropScience, which is now the global market leader?

If I may expand on that, Bayer CropScience is not just the market leader, but also an innovation leader – for example in conventional crop protection. After all, it’s logical that a company can only become a market leader if it possesses a full range of top, innovative products. And we have these products. It goes without saying that we will continue along this successful path. Our pipeline contains ten development products that we aim to introduce to the market by 2011. There are two insecticides, four herbicides and four fungicides, one of which will be launched already in 2006 with a completely new active ingredient. I would also like to emphasize in this connection that Bayer has an impressive success rate in the discovery of new active substance classes.

What is the situation in green biotechnology?

We’re on the right track here too. We use this technology to research herbicide tolerance and insect resistance, for example. We are concentrating not only on protecting crops, but are also conducting intensive research into improving quality. The focus here is on cotton, rice and canola. In the long term, we can also imagine that plants as a raw material will replace oil, for example, or be used to supply pharmaceutical active substances. Maybe they will even be employed for plastics.

Does your third subgroup, Bayer MaterialScience, also have its sights on such interesting projects?

You can be certain that it does. We have set up a separate New Business department that works closely together with the business units to generate new business opportunities and also exploit existing synergies. For example, our Creative Center – one section within New Business – has worked together with partners to develop models of the future. For us it is crucial that we are able to anticipate the future needs of our customers today. Particularly in view of constantly rising research costs, we have to understand how trends will develop.

But what is the benefit for Bayer MaterialScience?

As you know, the company is a leading supplier of high-tech materials and innovative system solutions. Whether it’s cars, the home, sports or communication, Bayer MaterialScience offers numerous groundbreaking solutions. Nanotechnology also offers interesting perspectives in this context. I’d just like to mention nanoparticles, our newest development in this area, which can result in enormous improvements in durability and fire prevention in plastics. Numerous new applications thus come to mind for our high-tech materials in the future.

With so many innovations in the subgroups, this raises the question: Why does the Bayer Group need Bayer Innovation GmbH as well?

It’s quite simple: that company aims to help develop innovative projects into new and workable concepts under the auspices of the holding company. Here we’re talking about completely new areas of business outside the current subgroups’ portfolios.

Do you already have presentable results?

Absolutely. For example, we have developed to market maturity a technology that enables optical storage of large data volumes. It is based on PhenoStor, a plastic developed by Bayer MaterialScience. It stores data in hologram form with the result that the information cannot be read or copied by unauthorized persons. This technology could be used to control entry to high security areas, which is just one example of many.

You are also going down new, unconventional paths, away from fields of classical research. What perspectives do you have there?

We are currently launching a major innovation campaign in the Bayer Group that calls on all employees worldwide to submit their own ideas for innovative products and futureoriented businesses. After all, it has often happened in the past that a simple idea has caused a big sensation. We are certain that our workforce harbors tremendous inventor potential. We want to realize this potential and further develop the resulting ideas. So I can promise you: Bayer still has quite a lot up its sleeve.