‘Bayer Korea goes all out to turn its slogan -- Health for All, Hunger for None -- into reality’

Bayer AG is a familiar name to Koreans – and foreigners as well.

The Germany-based multinational pharmaceutical company is the developer of aspirin, a medication used to reduce pain, fever, or inflammation.

Aspirin is one of the most widely used medications globally, with an estimated 40,000 tons consumed each year. It was the 40th most commonly prescribed medication in the United States, with more than 19 million prescriptions last year.

Koreans also meet the 158-year-old company through various products, such as Eylea (wet age-related macular degeneration medication) and Xarelto (anticoagulant medication). What will be its next hit products here?

Bayer Korea CEO Freda Lin talks about their company's current activities and future goals during a recent interview with Korea Biomedical Review at the company's main office in Dongjak-gu, Seoul.
Bayer Korea CEO Freda Lin talks about their company's current activities and future goals during a recent interview with Korea Biomedical Review at the company's main office in Dongjak-gu, Seoul.

According to Bayer Korea CEO Freda Lin, who took the post in December 2019, the company’s foremost mission in Korea is to introduce various drugs to address unmet medical needs and bridge the gap between Bayer headquarters and the Korean government. No less important are multiple activities to fulfill its social responsibility for the host country, Lin said.

However, her first year in Korea was far from easy, Lin said in a recent interview with Korea Biomedical Review.

“Last year, most companies and individuals had a tough time due to the Covid-19 outbreak, and Bayer Korea was no exception, either," Lin said. "Covid-19 has changed the way we do business. However, the change is not necessarily bad as we could introduce some creative measures to boost our work efficiency."

In the past, the company, like most others, had to resort to face-to-face meetings, meaning there was a limit in the number of participants in such discussions.

"However, most of our meetings now are held virtually where we can accommodate all participants," she said. "Hence information-sharing became more effective both globally and locally."

Lin also learned a lot personally by “working under ambiguity” with the unexpected arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic. "Multinational companies like us used to have guidance from headquarters," she said. "However, branch heads ran into unpredictable situations and had to make independent decisions during this unusual period."

Despite such difficulties, Lin recalled she enjoyed her first year as the head of Bayer Korea.

"Asia's drug sector is continuously growing compared to European countries, and the Asian market is very attractive and efficient," she said. "Korea, in particular, has the outstanding infrastructure and high-quality researchers. The Korean government takes good care of its people by implementing a great healthcare system."

Lin noted that she was especially amazed at how “well-educated” Korean patients are.

"Koreans have vast knowledge about their diseases and treatment, an important part of the overall treatment process," she said.

Impressed with Korean patients ‘well versed’ with diseases

Under Lin’s leadership, Bayer Korea could deliver two more innovative drugs --Vitrakvi and Nubeqa -- to Korea in May last year.

Vitrakvi is a TRK (tropomyosin receptor kinase) inhibitor indicated for treating adult and pediatric patients with solid tumors that have an NTRK (neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase) gene fusion without acquired resistance mutation. Bayer confirmed that the drug extended response duration and survival in neurotrophic tyrosine receptor kinase (NTRK) gene fusion-positive lung cancer patients earlier this month.

Nubeqa is a treatment for no-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. If used as a combination therapy with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), the drug can improve the overall survival rate and reduce death in patients compared to ADT alone in September last year.

"New drugs are not the only area we focus on, as the company still hold a strong position in our blockbuster pipelines, such as Xarelto, Eylea, and Nexavar (anticancer drug)," Lin said. "Our top brand Eylea achieved record-high sales of more than 60 billion won ($53.6 million) last year."

While the company has seen some fierce competition for NOAC (new oral anticoagulants) and HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma), the company still maintains a leadership position in these two areas with Xarelto and Nexavar, she added.

"Nexavar is the first-line treatment of HCC with proven evidence for the past decade and will continue to be the cornerstone for HCC treatment, and we will continue to work in the field of stroke prevention for Xarelto to provide treatments for patients during this aging society," she said. "We are also working on new indications for peripheral artery disease (PAD) and coronary artery disease (CAD) to explore treatment opportunities continuously."

Besides the company's famous pipelines, Bayer Korea is also expanding its portfolio for women's health products.

"We have several brands that are going quite well in the field of women's health, and we plan to expand our market presence in the area," she said. "As part of our efforts, Bayer headquarters has acquired a biotech company called KaNDy, and we will work with them to launch a new brand for non-hormone treatment.”

While the company still has some time to launch the product, Bayer Korea is also bringing innovative treatment to Korea.

Struggling with Seoul’s drug pricing policy

Like her predecessors and counterparts, Lin said she struggled with the Korean government regarding its drug pricing policy.

"Korea has strict standards in reimbursement approval, and reimbursement prices are also comparatively lower than other countries," she said. "While we understand the government's need to control healthcare expenditure, we believe there needs to be a balance between the value of innovative medicines and cost control."

Lin's concerns are a problem that most other CEOs of multinational pharma’ local offshoots face when introducing innovative drugs to Korea.

"The authorities need to recognize the value of innovative medicines properly," she said. "I believe that the government may need to adopt a flexible pricing system to encourage companies to launch innovative drugs in Korea."

As a possible solution to resolve such problems, Lin explained that the government should not limit reimbursement to a single comparator drug but incentivize drugs that show better efficacy, safety profile, or impact on certain patents and expand its risk-sharing agreement (RSA) program so that more companies can participate in the scheme.

She suggested that reimbursement based on different indications could be another solution.

"It is a trend in the pharmaceutical industry for a single drug to have multi-indication, and multi-indication research is also one of Bayer's portfolios," she said. "Therefore, I believe that a new drug price system that reflects this trend may be necessary."

Currently, drug pricing by indications is adopted by countries, such as Australia, Switzerland, and the U.S., and these countries operate by adjusting the refund rate while leaving the indicator price unchanged, she added.

According to the Bayer Korea CEO, many others, including Korea, maintain a one-drug price policy regardless of different indications.

"It seems necessary to coordinate the method through open dialogue and sufficient discussion with authorities and industry key players," she said. "As the CEO of Bayer Korea, I will do my best to work as a bridge between Bayer headquarters and the Korean government and have a continuous dialogue on providing a better solution to Korean patients."

Equal emphasis on CSR

Bayer Korea CEO Freda Lin
Bayer Korea CEO Freda Lin

Aside from drugs, Lin stressed that her company would increase corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to care for the patients' physical health and help them socially, mentally, and economically, under the company's vision of "Health for All, Hunger for None."

The company has started making efforts to achieve seven sustainable development goals aligned with the U.N. sustainable development goal or SDG.

"As a major player in the areas of health and nutrition, we have an influence on many of the SDGs and can have the greatest impact on various items, such as no poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, gender equality, clean water, climate action and life on land," she said.

No poverty and zero hunger are our top priority for nutrition side under our vision hunger for none, and good health and well-being is important for our pharmaceutical vision under health for all, Lin added.

"At the end of the day, we want Bayer to be a company committed to having a positive impact on our society and planet," Lin emphasized. "Sustainability is, therefore, a core element of our corporate strategy and enjoys the same status among our corporate goals as our financial indicators."

Some of the goals set by headquarters include supporting 100 million small-scale farmers in low- and middle-income countries to feed themselves and others, expanding access to self-care for 100 million people in underserved communities around the world, and providing 100 million women in low- and middle-income countries with access to modern contraception, she added.

Lin emphasized that the company is also trying to increase the availability and affordability of pharmaceutical products in low- and middle-income countries.

Bayer Korea under CEO Lin also has implemented various projects to help headquarters achieve such goals, including automated external defibrillator (AED) donation for the elderly, hypermenorrhea awareness campaign and monetary donation to treat women's disease, product donation to help overcome Covid-19.

"Especially, we newly established the concept of CSR to enhance activities for the local community," she said. "Bayer calls it CSE, which means corporate social engagement."

Last year, the company launched integrated CSE brand "Glück," which donated coloring books for pediatric patients in hospitals. The company will be implementing CSE activities strategically and long-termly under the new CSE brand added.

Lin stressed that headquarters and offshoots of Bayer in each country have their objectives and share their initiatives regularly.

"I have a monthly call with Bayer's leaders worldwide where I can share and learn about initiatives taken by us or others," she said. "I hope that we can see differences in 2030."

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