Last year was a successful one for Bayer’s pharmaceuticals division as it increased its focus on what matters most – delivering both innovative and essential medicines to patients in the Asia-Pacific despite the challenges from the Covid-19 pandemic – its newly appointed head of commercial operations for the Asia-Pacific, Ying Chen, said.

Speaking at a virtual media briefing on Wednesday, she emphasised, “Our consistently strong growth in the region is a testament to our innovation-driven portfolio that delivers value to patients in areas of high unmet medical needs.”

Despite lingering COVID challenges, the Pharmaceuticals division of Bayer grew at 1-2 per cent in developed markets such as Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Taiwan.

Other key growth drivers were South Asia, with India delivering strong 11 per cent growth and Pakistan, 2 per cent, and the ASEAN bloc, which achieved 9 per cent average growth across Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam.

The market outlook for the Asia-Pacific remains positive, as IQVIA projects an average growth rate of 4-5 per cent for the region’s pharmaceutical markets from 2021 to 2025.

2022 will be a breakthrough year for Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division in the Asia-Pacific with four upcoming launches of innovative products in the fields of cardiovascular disease and oncology.

Bayer is continuing to build a strong pharmaceuticals development pipeline, with around 50 projects in phases I to III of clinical development.

Many of them have the potential to treat various types of cancers, diabetic kidney disease and chronic heart failure which represent areas of high medical needs for the region’s ageing population.

Asia-Pacific is strongly represented in Bayer’s clinical development activities with 46 clinical trials conducted in 2020 and 2021, over half of them in oncology.

Dr Catherine Donovan, head of medical affairs for the pharmaceuticals division in the Asia-Pacific, said: “We have approximately a quarter of patients from the Asia-Pacific represented and enrolled in three key global development trial programmes for Bayer Pharmaceuticals’ new breakthrough innovations.

“With today’s digital and decentralised model, participation in trials is more accessible and convenient remotely, allowing us to generate meaningful data to monitor and improve patients’ outcomes”.

Collaborate to cure

Bayer is collaborating with external partners for accelerating innovation in the development of new medicines.

With the support of the Singapore Economic Development Board since 2007, the company continues to expand its collaboration activities in the Asia-Pacific region and has already invested S$27 million in projects with Singapore institutions to advance clinical and translation research in cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

At its recent Breakthrough Innovation Forum, Bayer announced plans to accelerate investments by its impact investment arm Leaps by Bayer by more than €1.3 billion over the next three years.

Donovan said: “As recovery from the pandemic begins to take shape, the company is working with healthcare professionals across the Asia-Pacific region to transform patient health through science for a better life.

“Innovation is our company’s lifeblood and so are partnerships and integrating patient care. Putting more resources on the frontlines to educate, detect and treat conditions early before they become more serious can lead to improved health outcomes and reduced healthcare spending.”

For more than 50 years Bayer has been supporting education programmes and rights-based family planning in more than 130 countries, particularly by providing access to modern forms of contraception, in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, reaching seven million women in the Asia Pacific in 2021.

With its expertise in women’s healthcare, the company has committed to providing 100 million women in low- and middle-income countries with access to family planning by 2030. VNS