Bayer sets up US ‘science hub’

Bayer has unveiled plans to establish a US “innovation centre” in San Francisco, where the German firm will aim to expand its “global research network and build its specialty pharmaceutical pipeline”.

The centre will be located in Mission Bay, and it has been reported that Bayer will move 65 researchers into a building vacated by Pfizer last July after its merger with Wyeth. The company intends to create a ‘science hub’, creating collaborations with academic researchers and small biotech firms, and it will also house Bayer scientists “who drive the company’s strong haematology research programme focused on coagulation factors and the discovery of novel biologic drug candidates”.

Andreas Busch, head of global drug discovery for the Bayer Schering Pharma unit, said that "Mission Bay is a hotbed of innovation in the US and key to our decision to co-locate our researchers in this life sciences community”. The San Francisco Chronicle writes that in Mission Bay, Bayer will benefit from an enterprise zone designation that could result in five years' worth of tax credits for some employees, as well as an exemption from San Francisco's 1.5% payroll tax for seven-and-a-half years.