Christian Rommel reveals the jigsaw pieces in place for Bayer's brave vision in R&D

Bold investments in BlueRock, AskBio and Vividion have shown the ambition of Bayer’s (BAYN: DE) new approach towards R&D, and another sign of intent was the German company’s appointment of Christian Rommel in late 2020.

Dr Rommel was named the new head of R&D at the group’s Pharmaceuticals Division, having been poached from Swiss pharma giant Roche (ROG: SIX), where he was senior vice president and global head of oncology research.

His expansive track record of R&D spanning over two decades, with experience in successfully accelerating innovation and advancing drug candidates across a breadth of modalities, was seen as key to driving Bayer’s innovation strategy.