April 10, 2007 - Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced its official U.S. launch. The new company incorporates the former Berlex Inc. into Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals, as part of Bayer's acquisition of Schering AG, Germany, Berlex's former parent company.
Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc., headquartered in Wayne, NJ, is the U.S.-based pharmaceuticals unit of Bayer HealthCare. Bayer HealthCare's pharmaceutical business is dedicated to developing, manufacturing and marketing products that help improve human health, and globally ranks among the top 10 specialty pharmaceutical companies. The global pharmaceutical business employs more than 40,000 people, with approximately 5,500 employees in the U.S.
The company's global Oncology and Specialized Therapeutics business units, as well as certain U.S.-based global drug development groups and other business support functions, will be housed in its Montville, N.J. offices. The establishment of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals is expected to bring an estimated 300 new jobs to New Jersey.
The combined company has a robust research and development program with a strong product pipeline geared toward developing meaningful new therapeutic options to fulfill unmet medical needs. As a result of these two companies combining forces, research and development activities have been consolidated into three major sites (Berkeley, Calif., Berlin and Wuppertal, Germany). The Berkeley facility is an important R&D center for protein-based biologics and will house the company's global Hematology/Cardiology business.
Research in Diagnostic Imaging, Women's Healthcare and Oncology will be based in Berlin. Wuppertal will house the core of the company's Cardiology research. Both locations have significant capabilities and activities in target discovery, lead generation and optimization, drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics, toxicology and clinical pharmacology.
Bayer also will continue operations in Washington State to manufacture the company's white blood cell growth factor.
For more information, contact www.berlex.com.