Bayer announced that it is investing approximately EUR 2 billion ($2.2 billion) over the next three years to upscale its pharmaceutical manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities.

Bayer says it is planning to invest in its core manufacturing plants and strengthen their operational responsibilities to support the implementation of the company’s strategy for its pharmaceuticals business. A significant part of these investments will be made for enhanced capacities in biotechnology by further strengthening the company’s cell- and gene-therapy production as well as the expansion of its manufacturing site in Berkeley, California.

Germany will remain an important strategic manufacturing location for the company. The company’s Supply Center in Berlin will be transformed into a Center of Excellence for parenterals, and the Supply Center in Leverkusen into a Center of Excellence for non-hormonal solids. The Supply Center Bergkamen will become a Center of Excellence for contrast media and hormone products while expanding capacities for therapeutics. Major investments will also be made in the company’s Supply Center in Wuppertal, with the investments focused on launch production and new production technologies. In these sites, the company will invest around EUR 1 billion ($1.1 billion) over the next three years.

At the end of last year, Bayer announced an investment of more than EUR  400 million ($444 million) at its sites in Turku, Finland, and Alajuela, Costa Rica, to reinforce a commitment to providing 100 million women with access to family planning by 2030, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

While Bayer is strengthening its production network through these investments, it is analyzing in parallel which manufacturing activities might not be of strategic focus any longer. For example, the company has already divested its production plant in Karachi, Pakistan. To continue strengthening the competitiveness of its manufacturing capabilities by focusing on core activities and technologies, the company’s manufacturing plant in São Paulo Cancioneiro, Brazil, will be transferred to a new operator. In addition, Bayer is planning to transfer parts of the infrastructure and services at the German sites in Bergkamen, Wuppertal, and Berlin to external partners.

Source: Bayer