Beijing, November 15, 2025 — As a key step in Bayer’s “In China, for Global” strategy, the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center officially opened today in Beijing. The Center aims to foster deep integration among industry, academia, research, and entrepreneurship, creating an open ecosystem that connects China’s innovation with the globe.

Established in 2023 in Beijing E-Town’s BioPark, the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center is Bayer’s first innovation center in China. It will incubate local innovative biopharma companies, help bring China-developed drugs to global markets, and strengthen China’s full innovation value chain. By partnering with leading academic and clinical research institutions, the Center will also enhance basic research and clinical translation capabilities while driving data-enabled digital business innovation.

“Beijing is not only a strategic starting point for Bayer’s growth in China but also a central hub where we join hands with local innovators to build a new pharmaceutical R&D ecosystem. The city’s rich scientific resources and E-Town’s continuously improving business environment reinforce our confidence in long-term development and investment in China,” said Xiaolan Zhou, Executive Vice President of Pharmaceuticals Division of Bayer AG, President of Bayer Pharmaceuticals China, President of Bayer Greater China. “The official opening of the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center marks an important milestone in deepening our strategic footprint in the local biotechnology industry. We look forward to leveraging this platform to connect China’s innovation to the globe, and to enable more breakthrough therapies from China to benefit patients worldwide.”

“China is increasingly becoming a key driver of global pharmaceutical R&D. We value and continuously engage in local scientific research, actively supporting homegrown innovation in China. Bayer has established long-term partnerships with top-tier academic institutions such as Tsinghua University and Peking University, providing strong support to translate cutting-edge basic research into new medicines,” said Dr. Anastasia Hager, Senior Vice President of Research and Development and Head of Drug Discovery Sciences, Bayer Pharmaceuticals. “The grand opening of the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center will further strengthen collaboration and allow more scientific breakthroughs from China to reach patients around the world.”

At the inauguration ceremony, Bayer Co.Lab, Bayer’s global life science incubator network, announced its official establishment at Beijing E-Town BioPark. Working in synergy with the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center, Bayer Co.Lab Connect Beijing will provide global resources and collaboration networks to strengthen local innovation partnerships, accelerate early-stage innovation translation, and support the growth of local biopharmaceutical startups by further integrating them into the global healthcare innovation ecosystem.

As the first outcome of this innovation system, Bayer Co.Lab welcomed two new resident companies at the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center: Suzhou Puhe BioPharma Co., Ltd and Beijing Youngen Technology Co., Ltd. Puhe BioPharma focuses on developing innovative small-molecule precision therapeutics and is collaborating with Bayer on an oral PRMT5 inhibitor targeting MTAP-deleted tumors. Youngen, a high-tech biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and translation of gene therapy products, will be supported by Bayer Co.Lab to explore the application potential of small nucleic acid drugs and accelerates the development of next-generation precision therapies.

On the same day, the “China-Europe Science and Technology Innovation Day & 2025 the 4th China-Europe Life Science and Biopharma Innovation Conference” was held at the newly inaugurated Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center. Co-hosted by the China Science and Technology Exchange Center and Bayer China, the event gathered leading scientists, scholars, and business leaders from both China and Europe to engage in in-depth discussions on topics including digital healthcare, patient-centered innovation models, and clinical translation of research outcomes, further promoting China-Europe collaboration in life sciences.

In parallel, an international scientific symposium jointly organized by Bayer, Tsinghua University, and Peking University took place at BioPark. Senior leaders and experts from Bayer’s global R&D and business development divisions in Germany and the U.S. joined professors and researchers from Tsinghua and Peking University to exchange insights on cutting-edge trends and the latest research achievements in life sciences and biopharmaceuticals.

As one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to establish strategic collaborations with China’s top universities and research institutions, Bayer has carried out over 100 joint research projects with Tsinghua University and Peking University over the past decade, and launched the Bayer China Academic Collaboration Award, which has recognized more than 220 leading Chinese scientists and young scholars.

Leveraging Beijing’s open policy environment and rich industrial resources, Bayer continues to strengthen its strategic presence in China by building an innovation ecosystem that spans R&D, collaboration, and manufacturing. Bayer is the only biopharmaceutical enterprise in Beijing with annual output exceeding RMB 10 billion for 13 consecutive years, and one of the few foreign-invested companies in the city operating both a global R&D center and a world-class product supply center. Bayer’s pharmaceutical production and packaging site in Beijing has become Bayer’s largest prescription drug packaging base worldwide. With the grand opening of the Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center, Bayer will further integrate resources across the entire value chain, accelerate the convergence of industry, academia, and research, and comprehensively empower the high-quality development of the pharmaceutical industry.

New resident companies joining Bayer Co.Lab*

Puhe BioPharma

Suzhou Puhe BioPharma Co., Ltd. is a biotechnology company dedicated to the research and development of innovative small-molecule precision therapeutics. Adhering to a strategy that addresses differentiated clinical needs, the company focuses on high-incidence, high-mortality cancers and other chronic diseases. By leveraging scientific and industrial insights, Puhe combines various advanced technologies such as next-generation kinase inhibitors, synthetic lethality, and molecular glue approaches to address complex medical challenges.

Youngen

Beijing Youngen Technology Co., Ltd. is a high-tech biopharmaceutical enterprise dedicated to the R&D and translation of innovative drugs in the field of gene therapy. Based on disease mechanism researches and innovative drug development, the company has established a number of small nucleic acid drug pipelines and extrahepatic drug delivery technology platforms, having achieved breakthrough progress. Leveraging its transformative delivery technology, Youngen is fully committed to the development of innovative small nucleic acid drugs to address global unmet clinical needs, offering precise and efficient treatment solutions for patients worldwide.

*The above company profiles are provided by the resident companies.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global company with core competencies in health and agriculture in the life sciences sector. The company is committed to helping people and the planet thrive through products and services that help people overcome the major challenges posed by a growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to driving sustainability and making a positive impact on its business. At the same time, the Group is also improving profitability and creating value through technological innovation and business growth. Globally, the Bayer brand stands for trustworthiness, reliability and quality. In fiscal 2024, Bayer had approximately 93,000 employees and sales of 46.6 billion euros. R&D investment, excluding special projects, amounted to EUR 6.2 billion. See www.bayer.com for more information.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer’s public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.