Bayer announced that it has launched a business unit that will focus on precision digital health products across a range of everyday health categories.
Bayer will prioritize developing digital solutions that enable people to make more informed health choices based on personal insights and novel delivery mechanisms, the company said in a news release posted yesterday.
A company spokesperson wasn’t able to disclose the size of the investment to MassDevice — but added that Bayer is investing in pipeline project development, IT infrastructure, strategic partnerships and personnel to rapidly scale up new innovations across the company’s categories.
The move could be a big deal considering Bayer’s size. The German pharma and biotech giant had sales of €50.7 billion (roughly $53 billion) in 2022. Its pharmaceuticals division is the 16th largest pharma business in the world, according to our sister site Drug Discovery & Development‘s Pharma 50 rankings. (In comparison, Medtronic — the largest medtech company in the world — had $31.2 billion in revenue in its most recent fiscal year.)
Joe Mullings, CEO of medtech and life sciences search firm The Mullings Group, predicted at our DeviceTalks Boston show in early May that he thinks medical device manufacturers are going to fumble away chronic disease management opportunities to pharmaceutical companies in the near term.
“I think you’re going to see the pharmaceutical companies get into that front-end RPM remote patient monitoring, managing the disease state at home, even potentially catching it subclinically. And they’re gonna take that enormous pie that’s growing over the next 10 to 15 years away from the device world,” Mullings said.
“They have more PhDs than med device does. They understand disease states better than med device does. They got deeper pockets than med device does. And remote patient monitoring is not a tough nut to crack. And it feeds into their pharma model really well.”
More about the new Bayer Precision Health group
Bayer Precision Health will identify digital and digital-supported consumer healthcare opportunities. Bayer is embedding it with the business, and the group will include leaders with diverse responsibilities and expertise. The group will focus on addressing unmet needs in its core categories, developing new evidence-based precision health products to market and scaling technologies globally. Bayer Precision Health will work with startups and other digital health providers as well as upskill Bayer’s existing digital capabilities.
“As people increasingly turn to self-care to manage their everyday health, new digital tools are enabling them to make smarter choices through deeper and more precise understanding of their individual needs,” said David Evendon-Challis, head of R&D and chief scientific officer for the Consumer Health division of Bayer. “With global leadership in the core categories people turn to for self-care, from cardiovascular and digestive health to pain management and immunity, Bayer will offer a wide range of precision health products and services.”
Bayer has already been active in the precision health space. In 2021, the company piloted projects with Ada Health to embed its AI-based symptom assessment into several of its brands. The idea was to help customers better understand their symptoms and how they could be treated.
Earlier this year, Bayer launched the first step of what it describes as a new heart health ecosystem in the United States with a heart risk assessment powered by HUMA. The assessment is fully digital and gives consumers a personal risk assessment of developing cardiovascular disease — without blood tests or physical examination. In addition, Bayer has several other projects in its pipeline, with anticipated launches beginning later this year.
“Digital health products are a perfect addition to the treatments we have offered for decades,” said Aquil Harjivan, R&D head of digital health for Bayer’s Consumer Health division. “We believe the best of precision health will be driven by partnerships, so we look forward to working with the most innovative, evidence-driven companies committed to transforming everyday health.”
