Berlin - Bayer today announced Dr. Christian Rommel as the new Head of Research and Development at its Pharmaceuticals Division, effective February 1, 2021.

He will report to Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG, and President of Pharmaceuticals. Rommel will serve on the Pharmaceuticals Executive Committee and be based in Berlin. Prior to joining Bayer, he held the role of Senior Vice President, Global Head of Oncology Research and Early Development at Hoffmann-La Roche AG in Basel.

Christian Rommel will succeed Dr. Joerg Moeller who decided to leave Bayer, effective December 31, 2020, to pursue other career opportunities.

'Christian Rommel is an internationally recognized biopharma executive with an expansive track record of R&D spanning over two decades. His in-depth experience in successfully accelerating innovation and advancing drug candidates across a breadth of modalities will be one of the key drivers for Bayer's innovation strategy,' said Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG, and President of the company's Pharmaceuticals Division. 'At the same time, I thank Joerg Moeller for his dedicated service and significant contributions during his tenure at Bayer and wish him all the best for his future endeavors.'

'I am energized and privileged to join Bayer, and for the opportunity to work with the company's R&D community to leverage the company's science and culture to bring transformative therapies to patients worldwide,' said Christian Rommel. 'Being part of bringing more 'Science to a better life' to improve the lives of patients and their families truly aligns with my own values and passion for accelerated innovation across therapeutic areas.'

Christian Rommel's prior positions include executive-level R&D roles at Amgen, Intellikine as well as scientific leadership positions at Merck Serono and Regeneron. He holds a Master's degree in pharmacology from Ernst-Moritz-Arndt University of Greifswald and a PhD degree in molecular oncology from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Genetics in Berlin, Germany and the Institute of Medical Virology at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. Its products and services are designed to benefit people by supporting efforts to overcome the major challenges presented by a growing and aging global population. At the same time, the Group aims to increase its earning power and create value through innovation and growth. Bayer is committed to the principles of sustainable development, and the Bayer brand stands for trust, reliability and quality throughout the world. In fiscal 2019, the Group employed around 104,000 people and had sales of 43.5 billion euros. Capital expenditures amounted to 2.9 billion euros, R&D expenses to 5.3 billion euros.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Bayer's public reports which are available on the Bayer website at www.bayer.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.

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