Cell and Gene Therapy
Building a healthier future |
Cell therapy and gene therapy (CGT) are some of the fastest growing fields in modern healthcare and could fundamentally change medicine as we know it today. By targeting diseases at the genetic and cellular level, CGTs offer an unprecedented opportunity to provide ground-breaking treatments that could prevent, halt or even reverse individual conditions.
What for a long time sounded like science fiction has become reality: several approved CGT products are already on the market today, and the numbers continue to grow. Bayer is committed to become a leader in this field developing an extensive portfolio of cell therapies and gene therapies to provide innovative treatment options for patients who urgently need them. |
Focus Areas
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy is the use of genetic material inside the patient in the treatment or prevention of a disease. This can be done by adding or deleting, regulating, repairing or replacing a genetic sequence, and employed for both inherited and acquired diseases.
Cell Therapy
When cells become damaged or start to malfunction, this can lead to diseases. Cell therapy is achieving the prevention or the treatment of such diseases through the transfer of living cells to a patient.
Gene Editing
Gene editing is the targeted manipulation of genetic material. It is a very versatile tool that can be used to enhance cell therapies and gene therapies, or as a stand-alone therapy.
Changing Outcomes for Patients
For decades, many of the most debilitating diseases have been labelled as “intractable“, meaning that medicine could not provide an answer for patients suffering from these conditions beyond alleviating the symptoms they experienced to a certain extent. CGTs hold the promise of changing that.
Committed to become a leader in this field Bayer established a CGT platform that is developing a pioneering and extensive portfolio of CGT technologies to provide options to patients who previously had none. Through the acquisition of two wholly owned subsidiaries, Asklepios BioPharmaceutical (AskBio) and BlueRock Therapeutics (BlueRock), and ongoing strategic partnerships with other CGT companies, we are exploring the use of different technologies across a number of conditions like Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure and rare diseases such as Huntington’s disease. We focus on diseases that can be best addressed using our CGT technologies, instead of researching within specific therapeutic areas. By translating the promise of CGTs into tangible treatments, we aim for achieving long-term relief for patients and making a difference for those who simply have no time to wait.
