Bayer plans to shift focus away from women’s health drug research
Pharmaceutical company plans to hone in on rare diseases, neurology and immunology
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Bayer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, announced on Friday that it will be shifting its focus away from women’s health.
The company plans to put more research efforts into rare diseases, cardiovascular disease, neurology, oncology and immunology.
"When it comes to research and the subsequent clinical phases, we will no longer have an explicit focus on women's health," the head of Bayer's pharmaceuticals unit, Stefan Oelrich, told Reuters.
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However, the company — which makes the common consumer drugs Aleve, Midol, MiraLAX, Alka-Seltzer and Claritin — will continue development of elinzanetant, a non-hormonal medication intended to treat menopausal symptoms.
Bayer, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, has announced that it will be shifting its focus away from women’s health. (iStock / iStock)
Bayer’s immunology research could still result in some women’s health medications, but the company’s targeted efforts on therapeutics had failed to meet expectations, Oelrich told Reuters.
The company will continue development of elinzanetant, a non-hormonal medication intended to treat menopausal symptoms. (iStock / iStock)
The company will instead aim to grow its presence in cell and gene therapy.
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Bayer also makes the Yasmin brand of birth-control pills and the Mirena intrauterine device.
Bayer plans to grow its presence in cell and gene therapy. (iStock / iStock)
The announcement comes just before a leadership change at the company.
On April 1, Bill Anderson will step into the CEO role, taking over as Werner Baumann retires.
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In other women’s health medication news, the Swiss pharma company Novartis has reported positive trial data for its breast-cancer treatment Kisqali.
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In a company statement, Novartis said the drug exhibited positive topline results from an interim analysis of NATALEE, a Phase III trial evaluating Kisqali, in a broad population of patients with early breast cancer.
Joe Toppe of FOX Business, as well as Reuters, contributed reporting to this article.