Bayer is “on track” to realize the €2 billion in cost savings it’s aiming for in 2026, executives say, even as they report another quarter of “modest” performance across its crop science, pharmaceuticals and consumer health groups.
Across the whole company, Bayer has 3,200 fewer jobs now compared to the beginning of the year, as a result of implementing a new organizational structure executives call dynamic shared ownership, or DSO, CEO Bill Anderson told reporters Tuesday morning. The new system, he has repeatedly said, puts more power “in the hands of the people doing the work.”
In line with that philosophy, Anderson noted that 2,500 of the jobs that have been eliminated were management roles. Senior officer roles, in particular, have been shrunk.
“That’s something like the top 300 people,” he told reporters. “We’ve reduced that by about 10%. That will continue to reduce further.”
The new details come after Bayer disclosed last quarter that 1,500 staffers had been laid off. The company has been offering incremental updates on its restructuring in recent months but still declines to predict exactly how many roles will be gone, adamant that it’s not out to cut jobs but to remove layers of bureaucracy.
In March, the company streamlined the pharmaceutical division by eliminating six seats on the leadership team. The recent departure of Jens Vogel, global head of biotech, was part of that initiative, which is still progressing, a spokesperson told Endpoints News on Tuesday.
Tasked with turning around a conglomerate weighed down by debt and litigation, Anderson added that the DSO implementation is moving faster than his expectations. One of the examples he raised was the team around Nubeqa, a prostate cancer treatment that’s become one of Bayer’s fastest-growing products. That group is “fully schooled in the new model,” Anderson said in prepared remarks.
Previously, the field team would have had to go through headquarters to dissolve and expand sales territories, rework positions and hire vendors. Now, they can make and execute those decisions on their own, according to Anderson. Second-quarter sales are up almost 90% from €201 million to €380 million.
But the top-selling drug is still the blood thinner Xarelto, which is facing generic erosion. Having previously sworn off large, late-stage deals, Anderson spotlighted mid-stage cell and gene therapy programs, potential label expansions for Kerendia and Nubeqa, as well as upcoming regulatory decisions on elinzanetant (for vasomotor symptoms tied to menopause) and acoramidis (for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy).
Then there’s BAY 2927088, an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor for non-small cell lung cancer harboring HER2 activating mutations that recently nabbed breakthrough therapy designation from the FDA. The Phase 1 data were so promising that Bayer is moving straight to Phase 3, with enrollment of the first patient “just around the corner,” Anderson said.
He reiterated that the pharma pipeline will be one of the biggest levers for value creation. In total, the group delivered €4.6 billion in second-quarter sales — slightly lower than crop science.
“We still have a lot of work to do, but I like our momentum,” he said.