Research and development at Bayer HealthCare focus on identifying and developing new active substances to treat diseases with a high unmet medical need. Bayer HealthCare, with r&d spending of €1.7 billion in 2007, accounted for 65.9 percent of all r&d expenditures in the Bayer Group. The Bayer Schering Pharma* Division carries out research and product development mainly in the fields of Oncology, Women’s Healthcare, Cardiology and Diagnostic Imaging. Topical examples of active ingredients to emerge from pharmaceutical research are:
- Rivaroxaban / Xarelto®:_ Substance for the prevention and treatment of venous thromboembolism,
- Nexavar®:_ Anticancer medicine that combines two special mechanisms of action to inhibit tumor growth,
- Yaz®:_ Low-dosage oral contraceptive with a new dosage regimen,
- vegf-Trap-Eye:_ protein in testing for the treatment of eye diseases. The research and development activities of the Consumer Care Division are directed toward identifying and developing nonprescription medicines and introducing them in the market. In the Diabetes Care Division, the main focus is currently on the development of user-friendly blood glucose monitoring systems to meet the individual needs of people with diabetes. The Division is also investing in technologies to allow continuous blood glucose monitoring and, in the longer term, to eliminate the need for blood sampling. Research in the Animal Health Division targets the fields of antibiotics, parasiticides and products to treat non-infectious diseases such as kidney failure, cancer and congestive heart failure and to relieve pain in livestock and companion animals.
* The names “Bayer Schering Pharma” or “Schering” as used in this publication always refer to Bayer Schering Pharma AG, Berlin, Germany, or its predecessor, Schering AG, Berlin, Germany, respectively