As of: April 3, 2024, 12:19 p.m
By: Tim Krupka
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In order to increase efficiency and save costs, the Leverkusen-based pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer would like to have significantly fewer management levels in the future. Managers in the pharmaceutical sector are particularly affected by this measure.
Munich - As was recently heard from corporate circles, Bayer CEO Bill Anderson would like to more than halve the management team in the pharmaceutical division from eleven to just five people. According to information from
Handelsblatt
, the entire commercial business would in future be led by a Chief Operating Officer. The position should go to the previous head of the Pharmaceutical Americas business, Sebastian Guth.
As a further impact of the new “Dynamic Shared Ownership” strategy, parts of the oncology, global marketing, medical affairs and pharmacovigilance units will be combined to form the Global Commercialization area, as Handelsblatt
reports
. The newly created position will be taken over by Christine Roth, who was previously responsible for the oncology unit. According to the plans, Stefan Oelrich, Christian Rommel and Holger Weintritt also remained in office.
At Bayer, some executives could soon lose their jobs. © Christoph Hardt/Imago
Bill Anderson, who has only been in charge of the company since June 2023, has to deliver and is therefore likely to push ahead with the comprehensive restructuring. However, there is currently a lot going against him. In the USA, Bayer faces billions of dollars in costs if it loses a lawsuit over the weed killer glyphosate. The pharmaceutical business is also not running optimally at the moment. According to the
Handelsblatt,
there is a lack of “new drugs that could make up for the billions in sales that Bayer loses when important patents expire.” The flop surrounding the failed anticoagulant Asundexian should not be forgotten, as Manager
Magazin
adds.
This is also planned at Bayer
Savings of up to two billion euros per year are to be realized at Bayer from 2026 through the “Dynamic Shared Ownership” strategy, according to the
Handelsblatt.
In order to achieve this ambitious goal, Anderson is aiming not only for job cuts but also for a change in the internal working methods and a reduction in hierarchical levels. The company assures us that rationalization measures like those in the USA, where up to 40 percent of managers in the pharmaceutical business lost their jobs, will not exist in other countries.
It is currently unclear whether Bayer also wants to cut management positions in the agricultural chemicals and consumer health divisions. There have been no corresponding statements so far. However, CEO Anderson made it clear at the Capital Markets Day at the beginning of March that the group's future focus would primarily be on improving the pharmaceutical division. However, there will no longer be any forecasts regarding peak sales for the drug candidates, explains the
Handelsblatt.
According to current status, the measures related to streamlining the organizational structure should be completed by the end of next year at the latest. Care is being taken to ensure that job cuts are as socially acceptable as possible, as Heike Hausfeld, chairwoman of the general works council, assured in an interview with
Manager Magazin
.