Two Leading Pharmaceutical Portfolios and Pipeline Drive Bayer's Future Growth
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BERLIN – At the Bayer Pharma Media Day 2026, Stefan Oelrich, a member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Pharmaceuticals Division, explained how a sustained focus on scientific and business priorities is the main driver of the company’s growth targets towards 2030.
“With an unwavering focus on strategic priorities and scientific rigour, we are beginning to see the results of the transformation strategy we are implementing to drive growth,” said Stefan Oelrich, member of the Board of Management of Bayer AG and President of the Pharmaceuticals Division. “Thanks to the strongest pharmaceutical portfolio we have ever had, a multimodal pipeline, and an operational model increasingly supported by artificial intelligence (AI), we are on track to return to mid-single-digit growth from 2027, as well as to expand margins from 2028 to reach 30 per cent by 2030.”
Bayer’s secondary stroke prevention is developing a new treatment option for secondary stroke prevention that could potentially offer a better benefit-risk profile. By inhibiting factor XIa (a type of protein in the blood clotting pathway), the goal is to separate the process of haemostasis (stopping bleeding) from thrombosis (clot formation), thereby preventing pathological blood clots without disrupting the body’s natural haemostasis function.
Around 12 million people worldwide experience a stroke every year, with 80 per cent of them being ischaemic strokes. About one in five survivors of ischaemic strokes will experience another stroke within five years, despite undergoing currently available secondary stroke prevention strategies.
For transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), Bayer has successfully introduced a therapy option in Europe to stabilise the transthyretin (TTR) gene, mimicking a natural “protective mutation” in that gene which targets the root cause of ATTR-CM.
ATTR-CM is a progressive and potentially fatal heart disease that is often undiagnosed. This disease is caused by the instability of transthyretin (TTR), which triggers amyloid buildup in the heart and results in a drastic decline in heart function. ATTR-CM is estimated to affect 400,000 people worldwide and around 190,000 people in Europe.
Comprehensive treatment for chronic kidney disease (CKD) and/or heart failure (HF) Bayer aims to take a leading role in advancing treatments for patients with heart failure and kidney disease. Bayer’s heart and kidney drugs, which have been tested in five clinical trials on various patient groups with CKD and/or HF, are designed to address chronic overactivation of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), a key factor causing organ damage. MR overactivation triggers inflammatory factors and fibrotic tissue formation, as well as fluid buildup in the heart and kidneys that accelerates disease progression.
More than 875 million people worldwide suffer from CKD and/or heart failure. The risk of developing both conditions is increasing due to global lifestyle trends, population ageing, and a surge in diabetes cases. Patients with CKD or HF have a lower life expectancy, and the risk of hospitalisation, disease worsening, and death is even higher if both conditions occur together.
Bayer aims to become the global leader in second-generation androgen receptor inhibitors (ARi) for the treatment of patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC), by researching new options that could potentially inhibit androgen receptor function (male hormone) and, through that mechanism, suppress prostate cancer cell growth.
Through a strategic research alliance with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Bayer is researching a GIRK4 potassium channel inhibitor (G-protein-coupled inwardly rectifying potassium channel 4). This inhibitor is expected to help control electrical activity in heart cells of patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib).
The significance of AFib is that it is the most common type of arrhythmia (heart rhythm disorder), affecting more than 60 million people worldwide, and is a major risk factor for stroke and heart failure.