Bayer said it will boost its already big footprint in the Bay Area with a $100 million investment in its Berkeley, CA, facility that is focused on developing new treatments for hemophilia.
The German drugmaker currently has Kogenate, which brings in about $1.1 billion a year, to treat hemophilia A, and is working hard to create a pipeline of next-generation therapies for the condition. The latest investment in the Berkeley R&D facility will be a two-year project, the company said in a release.
Bayer touts itself as the third largest biotech employer in the Bay Area, and the project will expand its hemophilia presence in the market. It also has a biologics manufacturing operation in Berkeley and a research base in San Francisco. The U.S. investment comes on the heels of last year's unveiling of a $700 million initiative to build new hemophilia-focused manufacturing operations in Germany.
"The new product testing facility will test Bayer's investigational products in accordance with rigorous global regulatory requirements," David Weinreich, Bayer's head of Global Development, Specialty Medicine, said in a statement. "With today's announcement, we are thrilled to further strengthen our commitment to the hemophilia A patient community that Bayer has served for more than a quarter century."
Due in part to more convenient--and likely costlier--injections, analysts expect the hemophilia market to reach above $11 billion by 2016, and Bayer is dialing up its budget in the field in hopes of playing a lead role in treating the disease.
- see the release
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