Senior Bayer Executives In Israel To Scout For Biotech Partnerships With Local Startups

Fifteen senior representatives from German pharmaceutical multinational Bayer are in Israel this week to scout for partnerships with local startups focused on biotech and digital health.

Led by Dr. Joerg Moeller, head of Bayer’s international Pharmaceuticals Research & Development Division, the delegation also includes Dr. Berthold Hinzen, head of BD&L (business development and licensing) Therapeutic Areas, who heads the company’s commercial division and who oversees startups and companies from the product idea phase to the production phase, and Jeanne Kehren, head of Bayer’s Digital & Commercial Evaluation, who oversees the Digital Health R&D Division, according to a statement by Bayer Israel, a subsidiary of Bayer AG.

Over the course of two days, the members of the delegation are set to meet with representatives of 32 Israeli startups to discuss opportunities and potential partnerships.

This is the first visit of its kind in Israel, Bayer Israel noted.

Hugo Hagen, Bayer Israel’s managing director and head of the pharma division said in the statement: “Although I arrived in Israel from Norway, where technology and innovation is a pillar of economic growth, I am still amazed by the extent of both governmental and private funding and support of competitive research. The impressive infrastructure and the dynamic ecosystem for innovation are why Bayer strives to become partner and player in Israeli biotech and medical research.”

The delegation is being accompanied by Invest in Israel, a branch of the Israeli Ministry and Economy that seeks to promote investment in the country. Invest in Israel helped Bayer identify and connect with the relevant Israeli startups.

Ziva Eger, head of the Foreign Investments and Industrial Cooperation Authority at Invest in Israel said: “I welcome the visit by such a high-level delegation. This is Bayer’s statement of intent to invest in Israel, as well as its acknowledgment of the local biotech industry and the technologies developed here, which it can leverage as a growth engine. This is a great opportunity for us to collaborate and to make Bayer into a major player in the Israeli biotech industry.”

Headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany, Bayer employs around 117,000 people across the world and brought in some $43 billion in revenue in 2018. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.