Bayer to spin off anti-infectives research with Santo Holding as new company's majority owner

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Nov. 3 - Bayer HealthCare said Thursday that it plans to spin off the anti-infectives research unit of its pharmaceuticals division into a new company in which the Santo Holding AG, Stuttgart, Germany, will own a majority holding.

Bayer HealthCare will retain a minority holding, according to a company news release.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2006, officials said.

The new company will be headquartered in Bayer HealthCare's Pharmaceutical and Chemical Park in Wuppertal, Germany, and be led by Helga Rübsamen-Waigmann, currently head of Bayer HealthCare's anti-infectives research, officials said. About 25 employees will continue to search for new active substances for the treatment of viral and bacterial diseases as employees of the new company.

The new company will take over various development products and research projects as well as patent rights and licenses from Bayer's Pharmaceuticals Division.

"The signing of this agreement marks a successful conclusion to the announced spin-off of our anti-infectives research. In addition, we have managed to preserve valuable jobs and thus strengthen the status of Wuppertal as a location for research. I am certain that these highly qualified employees will enjoy a productive environment in the new company," Wolfgang Plischke, head of Bayer HealthCare's pharmaceuticals division, said in the release.

In late 2004, Bayer HealthCare decided to concentrate on the core therapeutic areas of cancer and cardiovascular risk management including diabetes, officials said.

The Leverkusen, Germany-based pharmaceutical company's late-stage development products include the innovative anticancer substance sorafenib, which has been submitted for regulatory approval in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma in the United States and Europe, and the novel antithrombosis substance BAY 59-7939, which is expected to soon reach phase III of clinical development, officials said.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.