Pharma Company Bayer Plans to Scale Back Women’s Health R&D

Pharma giant Bayer has announced that it will shift the focus of its drug research away from women’s health and towards neurology, rare diseases, and immunology. According to Reuters Stefan Oelrich, head of Bayer’s pharmaceuticals unit, stated that the company will no longer have an explicit focus on women’s health during research and clinical phases. However, Bayer, maker of the Yasmin brand of birth-control pills and the Mirena intrauterine device, will continue to develop non-hormonal menopausal symptom relief elinzanetant as one of its four most promising pharmaceutical products.

The decision comes ahead of a leadership change in June. Incoming CEO Bill Anderson will have to deal with thousands of lawsuits related to the Roundup weedkiller, a lackluster drug development pipeline, and unhappy investors looking for strategic change. Despite acquiring Schering Pharma, a large women’s health in 2006, Bayer will now focus on oncology, cardiovascular disease, neurology, rare diseases, and immunology in its drug research efforts. Oelrich noted that recent deals to become a major player in cell and gene therapy have resulted in a bigger role for neurology, rare diseases, and immunology. While immunology research could still yield products related to women’s health, Bayer’s overall dedicated work on the therapeutic area has fallen short of expectations.