Bayer Pharm Company. Bayer AG - brand history. Modern history of the concern

Bayer (BAYER) operates in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. The long-term commercial success of the company's products is ensured by the combination of the company's economic growth with environmental and social responsibility.

Bayer CropScience is a world leader in the manufacture and sale of advanced products and innovative inventions in the field of protection. cultivated plants and disinfection.

The company's product range includes a wide range of varieties and hybrid forms of field crops.

Story

1873 - Friedrich Bayer (merchant) and Johann Westcott (master dyer) organize the Friedr. Bayer et comp, which produces synthetic dyes.

1881 - based on the company formed Joint-Stock Company Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer&Co" with about 300 employees.

1876 - organization of the first enterprise of azaline dyes in Moscow. Until that time, Bayer actively exported artificial colorants to Russia, satisfying up to 75% of demand.

1883 - a decision is made to expand production in Russia. Vladimir Stolyarov, a Moscow merchant, leases a factory in his name.

1884 - V. Stolyarov buys out the previously rented factory.

1885 - V. Stolyarov formalizes the ownership of the dyeing production. Theodore Betinger is the creditor. The company "Bergmann&vom Scheidt" was founded to carry out sales.

1897 - The company opens a sales agency and Friedr. Bayer & Co.

1898 - 908 - production facilities are expanding. New plots are acquired for the development of factories.

1912 - Weyer starts manufacturing pharmaceuticals. The company is transformed into a joint-stock company Chem. Fabrik Friedr. Bayer & Co. The company ranks second in imports of various products to Russia.

World War I and revolution interrupt business relationship between Bayer and Russian business.

1978 - Bayer office opens in Moscow.

1990s - Bayer CJSC is registered in Russia.

Branches

Today the company is represented in Russia by three divisions: Bayer CropScience, Bayer HealthCare, Bayer MaterialScience.

Bayer offices are open in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

Representative offices of the company are available in 20 regions Russian Federation, covering not only the European, but also the Asian part of the country.

Industrial base

Bayer CropScience is headquartered in Monheim, Germany. The company has three divisions - Crop Protection, Biological Sciences, Environmental Protection. The close interaction of all departments ensures the success of the company with the consumer.

Manufacturing plants company located.

famous german pharmaceutical company Bayer has been providing consumers with essential medicines from various branches of medicine for a century and a half. The corporation's specialists are the inventors of many pharmacological substances, the most significant and famous of which today are aspirin and heroin.

Brand history

In 1863 Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott founded the pharmaceutical company Bayer AG in Barmen. Almost immediately, the company's pharmacists learned how to produce acetylsalicylic acid, which had previously been discovered only in 1852 by the chemist Charles Gerard. This substance was a modification of salicyl extracted from willow bark. In 1899, "Aspirin" was acetylsalicylic acid, which was sold under the registered brand name "Bayer" throughout the world.

However, during the First World War, the United States confiscated the assets and trademarks of Bayer, so Aspirin lost its trademark status in this country, Britain and France. In these countries, to this day, various preparations of acetylsalicylic acid are produced under "Aspirin" by numerous trademarks. In other countries, including Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, Germany and many others, Aspirin is still considered a patented drug from the Bayer brand.

In 1904, the brand acquired its worldwide famous logo in the form of a cross formed by crossing the name of the company in the letter "Y". From 1958 to the present day, the world's largest luminous advertising, the Bayer cross, stands near the headquarters of Bayer. Due to the fact that Bayer was not allowed to put this logo on the packaging of aspirin, they decided to put it directly on the tablets so that consumers could remember the brand that released the drug.

The rights to the name of the brand, as well as other assets of the corporation during the First World War, passed to the United States, Canada and other states, which led to the reassignment of these assets to different countries Sterling Drug Corporation (Sterling Winthrop). In Germany, Bayer became part of the German pharmaceutical conglomerate IG Farben, which later became the financial backbone of the entire Nazi regime. This conglomerate owned a 42.5% stake in Bayer, which at that time produced Zyklon B, a substance that was actively used in gas chambers German death camps. Throughout the Second World War, the labor of prisoners was used in the activities of the corporation, especially for this purpose people who were held captive in the Mauthausen camps were often used. Bayer often used concentration camp prisoners to conduct various chemical experiments, many of which ended in death. For example, Jewish women were the first test subjects for the use of previously unknown hormonal drugs.

After the Allied victory in World War II for Nazi crimes, IG Farben Corporation was split and Bayer became an independent corporation again. Its then director was sentenced to 7 years for aiding the Nazis, which did not prevent him from leading the company again after his release in 1956. As early as 1978, Bayer acquired the Miles Laboratories Corporation, along with its subsidiaries Cutter Laboratories and Miles Canada, along with their product lines. Acquired in 1994 dealer network Sterling Winthrop was merged with Miles Laboratories, allowing Bayer to reclaim its own logo in the US and Canada. In Canada, Bayer also succeeded in reclaiming the Aspirin brand. In 2010, Bayer Corporation bought Oakland-based veterinary company Bomac Group for an undisclosed sum of money.

Throughout the history of the Bayer brand, many significant pharmacological substances have been discovered, among which it is worth mentioning:

aspirin, which is an analgesic, anticoagulant and antipyretic;
heroin, discovered by Bayer as a cough suppressant, but in fact today is a hard drug;
prontosil, the first identified sulfonamide;
Levitra - a remedy that can overcome erectile dysfunction;
ciprofloxacin - an antibacterial drug aimed at combating anthrax and infections of the urinary system;
polycarbonate - a substance from which plastic products are produced;
polyurethane - polymer a wide range applications.

Company range

Bayer's wide range of products form many of the world's famous brands belonging to the aforementioned corporation. The corporation's products help solve some contemporary issues on the highest level. The growing elderly population around the world calls for improved global health and food security. At the same time, Bayer contributes to facilitating the treatment of many diseases, ensuring the supply of quality medicines and food for people and animals around the world. The assets of Bayer products affect the biochemical processes in the body of living people and animals. Active ingredients promote positive molecular processes or make negative ones impossible.

IN modern world Bayer has several main areas of activity, in each of which one or another product of the company prevails. For example, the Pharmaceuticals division manufactures pharmaceutical products for cardiac and gynecological purposes, special means oncological, hematological and ophthalmological spectrum, radiological products necessary for X-ray surgery, computed and magnetic resonance imaging. The products of another division - Consumer Health - are OTC drugs (Claritin, Aspirin, Bepanthen and others):

dermatological;
painkillers;
antihistamines;
anti-cold;
dietary supplements;
means for the treatment of the gastrointestinal tract;
children's and adult vitamin complexes;
sunscreen;
drugs that prevent cardiovascular disease.

Bayer's Crop Science division focuses on producing high quality seeds, innovative crop protection products, a program for clients to build modern agriculture, and pest control products for agricultural products. Products for pets and farm animals are represented in the corporation by the Animal Health division.

Production capacity

The geography of Bayer corporation enterprises is scattered all over the world. Its headquarters are located in Germany, France, Canada and the USA, Makrolon production facilities are located in Belgium, as well as polyurethane production in Antwerp. In Italy there are 5 enterprises for the production of medicines, in the Netherlands there are 8 such plants, including subsidiaries. The departments of marketing and sales, research and production are also headquartered in the Netherlands. The Philippines is responsible for the production of baygon, autan and canestene.

"Bayer AG" includes today 3 groups of subsidiaries and 3 service companies managed by one holding corporation without interaction with each other:

CropScience;
healthcare;
material science;
Business Services;
Technology Services;
Currenta.

Bayer CropScience is engaged in the production of crop protection products and control of non-agricultural pests, breeding of various plant seeds. Today, this company is a world market leader in innovation in the agricultural sector, as well as genetic engineering of food products. CropScience is currently working with Daimler AG and Archer Daniels Midland Company to develop jatropha-based biofuels.

Bayer HealthCare is a subsidiary of Bayer responsible for pharmaceutical manufacturing. This firm researches, develops, manufactures and distributes products for maintaining and improving health. It is this company that represents the above pharmacological divisions that produce medicines and preparations of one plan or another.

Bayer Material Science is a firm that supplies high-tech polymers and develops solutions for everyday consumer problems. Bayer Business Services supports information infrastructure and is engaged in the technical support of the Bayer divisions in North America. Bayer Technology Services designs and builds the corporation's factories. Currenta supplies raw materials for chemical industry, disposes of its waste, maintains its infrastructure, is responsible for its safety and professional education employees in this industry.

Quality control

The international pharmacological corporation "Bayer" in all its activities pursues the implementation of high quality standards for its products. The Russian division of Bayer works using a quality management system, thanks to which access to production is open to all supervisory authorities, auditors and other structures that monitor the proper implementation of the quality of products manufactured and sold by the company.

Since Bayer does not have its own production facilities in Russia, it uses the opportunities contract manufacturing at certified domestic plants, such as the pharmaceutical plant Medsintez, FGBU ARRIAH, the pharmaceutical plant NTFF Polisan. These enterprises operate according to approved Russian legislation quality standards of pharmaceutical products, which is additionally checked by a special audit from the Bayer holding.

The quality of manufactured products is determined by their compliance with the requirements that were originally put forward to it by the legislation of the state and internal normative documents Bayer. All series medicines are multi-stage checked during production, and then when they are imported into Russia through certification and declaration. The corporation has no problems in communication with the end consumer, since its representatives always interact with both consumers and healthcare workers and government officials. Any complaint about the quality of products manufactured by Bayer is considered both in the context of the manufacturer and in the management structures of the company. Based on the results of numerous examinations, a decision is made on how to change the unsatisfactory characteristics of manufactured products in the future.

company in the world

Bayer Corporation is an international company with expertise in the areas of healthcare and agriculture. About 302 representative offices are located today in 75 countries around the world. The basis of the corporation's activities are the principles of economic stability, sustainable growth and high social responsibility.

In 2008, the Canadian division of the corporation was recognized as one of the "Top 100 Employers in Canada" by Mediacorp Canada Inc, and later one of the best employers in Toronto by the Toronto Star newspaper. The US division of the company has 85 points out of 100 in the calculation of the corporate equality index in 2011 in the campaign for the observance of human rights regarding tolerance towards sexual minorities.

Bayer's management structures recently announced the acquisition of an American OTC company Merck drugs& Co for $14.2 billion. This will allow us to gain leadership in the core market in North and Latin America, as well as take second place in the world in terms of this direction. Forecasts say that this transaction will lead to a 2% increase in net income in the year following the acquisition. Bayer's chairman of the board considers this expansion to be very important for the corporation's operations and plans to keep going.

This OTC symbiosis will help Bayer's 8,800 employees and Merck & Co's 2,000 employees work closely together to build Bayer's new portfolio of OTC products from both entities. The categories of over-the-counter drugs, as before, will be dermatological drugs, remedies for gastrointestinal diseases, colds, flu, allergies, and vitamin-mineral complexes. The cooperation of the two giants will help to introduce, according to the concluded agreement, OTC cardiovascular drugs, which annually bring up to 2 billion dollars in profit.

The acquisition boosted Bayer's share price by 2% by international market valuable papers.

Activity of the company

Bayer Corporation is an innovative world leader in the fields of seed protection, plant protection, biotechnology, conservation agriculture. The company's products are high quality seeds, innovative systems chemical and biological protection of plants. Recognizing the need for the integrity of the agricultural system, Bayer is developing 5 main areas that can make a breakthrough in the agricultural sector:

innovation and research;
development of agricultural regions;
intensification of agriculture;
health and food security guarantees;
broad partnership.

In the research and innovation industry, Bayer invests about 10% of its profits every year, which makes the company the best developer of seeds and effective crop protection. To help alleviate poverty around the world, Bayer is helping small farmers learn how to grow the maximum amount of food on their land, some of which they can use for food and sell the rest. To help plants fight climate change, Bayer is working on biological and chemical tools that can be beneficial in this context. Also, the corporation's specialists minimize the impact own production on those processes that in themselves cause climate change.

Where can you buy Bayer products?

Online pharmacy ZDRAVZONA

Bayer products can be purchased not only in retail chains around the world, but also on the Internet. For example, the most popular products from the company are available in the ZDRAVZONA online pharmacy. Here, any consumer can easily find Rennie chewable tablets that help with heartburn and stomach pain, effervescent Aspirin-Bayer, which helps to cope with moderate pain, fever and inflammatory processes in adults, Alka-Seltzer effervescent hangover tablets and many other over-the-counter effective medical products. facilities.

Internet pharmacy "36.6"

Almost every retail pharmacy, as well as an online pharmacy, has products from Bayer. The most frequent request in the search for drugs for this brand the famous aspirin remains on the Internet, which can be purchased, for example, at the 36.6 online pharmacy. Aspirin-Bayer in effervescent form very quickly relieves pain of various etiologies, so many network users want to buy this drug inexpensively online without a prescription.

Internet pharmacy ZdravCity

When it comes to purchasing prescription drugs from various companies, not all online pharmacies can meet such requests from patients. However, the ZdravCity online pharmacy has a large assortment of prescription drugs manufactured by Bayer Corporation. For the prevention of venous thromboembolism after extensive surgical interventions on lower limbs the company's specialists have developed a special prescription drug Xarelto, which can be purchased at this online pharmacy. Also presented here is the drug Levitra - a drug against erectile dysfunction of directed action with proven effectiveness. A prescription from a doctor is also required to purchase this drug. In the ZdravCity online pharmacy, you can also buy an antifungal drug Mycospor from Bayer, which will be effective for pathogenic skin mycoses, epidermophytosis of the trunk, hands or feet, candidiasis, pityriasis versicolor and other pathological processes.

When you hear the word "Bayer," you probably think of aspirin, or perhaps the prescription drugs that this company makes, and they would like to be thought of that way. At the same time, Bayer doesn't want you to know about some rather shady moments in its history. From war crimes in Nazi Germany to the use of the contaminated blood pools that gave HIV to thousands of hemophiliacs, there's a lot of dirty laundry in Bayer's closet. Here are some of the most amazing facts that you might not know about.

1. Bayer invented heroin

For some (especially those who have studied the history of the drug trade) this is common knowledge, but many are shocked to learn that a company as old and big as Bayer is responsible for creating one of the most dangerous drugs in history. But frankly, it's not surprising that most people don't know about Bayer's connection to heroin, as the company has gone to great lengths to distance itself from its creation.

The drug that eventually became known as heroin was first created by C.R. Elder Wright in 1874, who simply experimented with morphine and did nothing with the substances he received. This drug was again independently synthesized only 23 years later by the chemist Felix Hoffmann, who was then working for the German company Aktiengesellschaft Farbenfabriken (the future Bayer company). Hoffamann was tasked with converting morphine into codeine to make a drug that was less potent and less addictive. But instead, he created a drug that was twice as strong as morphine.

Bayer did create and patent heroin (it was so named because it evoked a heroic feeling in those who took it) and marketed the drug as a cough suppressant and even specifically recommended it for children. The company even advertised heroin as a treatment for morphine addiction until it discovered that it quickly turns into morphine in the body.

The company lost many of its rights to the heroin-related trademark (along with aspirin) after the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, after which it was made by other third parties and then by drug dealers after it was banned in the US in 1924.

2. Bayer didn't formally invent aspirin.

Although Bayer has credited the creation of acetylsalicylic acid, or aspirin, to Felix Hoffmann (the chemist who synthesized heroin), and therefore to itself, the drug was actually first created in 1853 by chemist Charles Frédéric Gérard and subsequently self-replicated in many ways by many other chemists.

Most historians agree that Hoffmann did his research and was well aware of the previously used methods for obtaining aspirin, and therefore, even by chance, could not invent this medicine, but simply found a way to make it safer and less bitter in taste. There is even evidence that Hoffmann was working on aspirin at the behest of his boss, and thus he didn't even create it himself. But, in any case, Bayer decided to list Hoffmann as the inventor in the 1899 US patent for this drug.

3 Bayer Tried To Keep Making Money In America During World War I

In 1899, Bayer patented aspirin, and this safe, effective drug that could be used for fever and pain quickly became its best-selling product. However, by the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, many companies around the world were already selling their versions of this drug. Soon after the outbreak of the war, England banned the import of goods manufactured by German companies, including Bayer, and in 1915 Bayer was deprived of the rights to trademark aspirin so that other companies can use that name for their drugs.

Unfortunately for Bayer, they not only lost markets, they also struggled to keep up with their production needs, since one of the main ingredients needed to synthesize aspirin was phenol, which was also used in the manufacture of explosives. Bayer still had a large market in the US and factories where it could produce aspirin for sale in North America, but it needed to find a supplier of phenol since it couldn't get it from Germany, so Bayer fell for the ruse, known as the Great Phenolic Conspiracy.

The big phenol conspiracy was complex, but mostly consisted of buying surplus phenol through a shell company from Thomas Edison, who set up his own factory to produce the substance, which was also needed to make phonographs. However, a few months later, a briefcase with details of this conspiracy was discovered by a Secret Service agent.

Although there was nothing illegal in this plot, since the United States had not yet entered the war at that time, the publication of information related to it in the media caused a big scandal. While the resulting phenol was sufficient to run its aspirin factories, the scandal ruined Bayer's reputation.

After the discovery of the Great Phenolic Plot, Bayer began opening more front companies and branches in the US to avoid losing control of its assets if the US entered the war. When the US declared war on Germany, an investigation was launched against Bayer, and then she moved her assets to a company that was formally American, but controlled by the same German-American leadership. However, this ruse was quickly discovered, and the government soon took control of Bayer's US assets and then sold all of its trademarks and patents, including the name and logo, to the medical company Sterling Products, Inc. Bayer AG eventually bought out all of its rights in 1994.

4 Bayer Made Some Of The Most Dangerous Gases Used During World War I

Here are two facts about World War I that everyone knows: 1) soldiers were in the trenches, and 2) gases were among the most dangerous weapons of this war. But few people know that without Bayer, these chemical weapons might not have existed. It all started shortly before the war, when Bayer's chairman, Carl Duisberg, was one of three men tasked by the War Office to find uses for the poisonous waste already produced by the chemical plants. This group recommended that they be used to make chlorine, which Bayer then helped produce and ship to the front. Duisberg was even present at the first test of this chemical weapon.

Under the leadership of the same Duisberg, Bayer created more dangerous gases, including phosgene and mustard gas. It is estimated that over 60,000 people died from these gases during the First World War. And although not all of these people died from Bayer products, without this company, these deaths might not have happened at all.

5 Bayer War Crimes During World War II

After World War I, Bayer merged with a number of other chemical and medical companies in Germany to create a conglomerate called IG Farben, which was among the few companies that funded the Nazi Party and allowed Hitler to rise to power.

IG Farben owned a 40% stake in the company that made Cyclone B, which was used to exterminate people in the Auschwitz gas chambers, but that was far from the corporation's only role in the Holocaust. She was directly involved in some of the worst Nazi war crimes, as none other than Josef Mengele himself tested her drugs on healthy Jewish twins. The company also conducted its own experiments on Holocaust victims, buying them from the Nazis to infect them with various diseases and use them as lab rats. Most of the drugs that were tested during these experiments killed all the test subjects. IG Farben also made extensive use of concentration camp labor, for which Bayer apologized in 1995.

IG Farben was liquidated after World War II due to its war crimes, and Bayer was resurrected as an independent company. And, of course, she did everything possible to distance herself from these war crimes.

Source 6Bayer broke the law in making hemophilia drugs that gave people AIDS.

Some medicines, such as those used to treat hemophilia, are made from human blood. Not surprisingly, dangerous diseases could be transmitted quite easily with these drugs, which is why in the early 1980s, with the onset of the AIDS epidemic, the federal government banned the use of prisoners, intravenous drug users, and gay men as blood donors for these drugs. But Bayer ignored these laws and used blood pools from these populations in the production of its clotting factors VIII and IX for hemophiliacs. To make matters worse, since the company pooled the blood of all donors (more than 10,000 people), even a small number of sick donors could infect the entire pool.

As a result, a drug that was supposed to save lives has itself become potentially dangerous. According to tests conducted by the CDC in 1985, 74% of hemophiliacs who took this drug were infected with AIDS. Ultimately, about 20,000 hemophiliacs from around the world were infected with AIDS as a result of taking Bayer's coagulation factors VIII and IX. Since then, Bayer has paid over $600 million in compensation to hemophiliacs who contracted AIDS.

7 Bayer Continued To Sell Potentially Contaminated Drugs Outside The U.S. For Years

As if it wasn't enough that it had already infected thousands of people with AIDS, Bayer decided to continue selling its dangerous products in other countries, even after they had to be removed from drugstore shelves in the US and Europe. In fact, to neutralize the HIV virus in these drugs, they only needed to be subjected to heat treatment. But instead of selling only the safer version of these drugs and withdrawing the more dangerous version from the market, Bayer continued to sell the latter in Asian and Latin American countries. It even made new batches of old versions of drugs because they were cheaper to produce.

Bayer still maintains that she acted responsibly, ethically and humanely, offering many justifications for her behavior. Specifically, they state that buyers were hesitant about the effectiveness of the new drug, that some countries were slow to approve the sale of a safer drug, and that plasma shortages prevented them from producing more new drugs. Yet despite all these claims, the company's internal filings show that even then, Bayer knew it was doing something wrong. In 1985, the company wondered if they could knowingly supply uncooked drugs to Japan, and yet they continued to do so.

8. At the end of the last century, Bayer was accused of fraud with Medicaid

the federal law requires drugs to be sold at the lowest price for Medicaid, and if the company offers a private insurance company or pharmacy to buy the drug at a lower price, it must refund the difference to Medicaid. By entering into an agreement with Kaiser Permanente in 1995, Bayer violated this law by agreeing to sell the antibiotic Cipro to the company at a lower price than for Medicaid, after Kaiser threatened to start using Johnson & Johnson's cheaper ofloxacin. Instead of complying with the law and notifying Medicaid of the price change, which would have required tens of millions of dollars in compensation, Bayer accepted Kaiser's offer to rename the drug and give it a different identification number. The year before, the company had done the same with its antihypertensive drug nifedipine.

In 2003, Bayer, despite continuing to claim that it acted responsibly, pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $257 million in damages and fines.

9. In many countries, Bayer still owns the patent for aspirin.

It may surprise you, but after all its war crimes and all the changes in ownership, Bayer still holds a patent on aspirin in some countries. In fact, although the company lost the patent for the drug in the US, UK, and France during World War I, it retained its rights to it in Canada, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, and more than 75 other countries.

Bayer has gone out of its way to support its patent and its brand, especially immediately after its introduction. When the company began manufacturing aspirin in 1899, it gave free samples of the drug to doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies and asked them all to report its effectiveness. And when other companies started making their own aspirin, Bayer started making the drug in tablets (originally it was sold as a powder).

10 Bayer Was Accused Of Spreading The Spanish Flu To Boost Sales

Unlike the other items on this list, this item is just a conspiracy theory, but at the same time, Bayer probably wants to keep it a secret that since 1918, people have accused her of intentionally spreading the Spanish flu. While this conspiracy theory may not have any basis in fact, it's easy to see why people believed it. The fact is that this German company sold almost the only remedy for this disease.

It is also worth noting that one researcher, Karen Starko, argued that many of the deaths associated with the Spanish flu were actually caused by aspirin overdose, as the drug was still new and doctors did not know how much to prescribe and What does aspirin poisoning look like? But even Starko noted that this was just a guess, since she could not find reliable autopsy reports to find out if there were symptoms of aspirin poisoning.

Bayer AG is a German chemical and pharmaceutical company based in Barmen (on this moment- part of Wuppertal, Germany) in 1836. Its headquarters is located in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany).

The history of the Bayer pharmaceutical concern began in 1836 in Barmen - now one of the districts of the city of Wuppertal. The founders of the company were Friedrich Bayer and Johann Friedrich Weskott.

Originally Friedr General Partnership. Bayer et comp., was engaged in the production of a new type of paint: synthetic dyes from coal tar derivatives.

At that time, the light industry in Germany was experiencing an increase in production and the need for inexpensive dyes was very high. natural paints, which were previously used, were very expensive and their number was limited.

Thanks to the German legislation of that time and the industrial growth of the mid-19th century, the number of enterprises engaged in the production of synthetic dyes grew very quickly, but only large players with their own research base and using the opportunities of the world market were able to remain on the market. One of the company's innovations was the production of Anizarin, a red synthetic dye.

From 1836 to 1881, Bayer was able to significantly strengthen its position in the local market, from the Friedr. Bayer et comp." the company was transformed into a joint-stock company under the name "Farbenfabriken vorm. Friedr. Bayer & Co. ”, this is how the financial foundation of the future concern was laid. The number of employees increased from 3 to 300 people.

The company owes its scientific potential and numerous innovations to Karl Duisberg, founder of the scientific laboratory in Wuppertal-Elberfeld. Thanks to the work of this laboratory, new standards for industrial research were set, many innovative dyes were invented, and with the advent of the pharmaceutical department, many unique for their time medications, including Bayer's most famous drug, aspirin.

"The drug of the century" - that's what they called "aspirin", was synthesized by Felix Hoffman. "Aspirin" was an excellent alternative to expensive and inaccessible salicin and salicylic acid, dangerous for the stomach - the main painkillers of that time. But for the commercial success of the new invention, the benefit alone was not enough.

The company applied a new marketing move for its time (now we would call it direct mail) - it spared no expense to publish a 200-page catalog of its products with a 30,000th print run, where the main emphasis was placed on the new product - "aspirin". At that time, there were about 30,000 practicing doctors in Europe - and Bayer sent out its catalog to all of them free of charge.

As a result, thanks to clever marketing moves and the use of the world market, Bayer has sold approximately 1 trillion tablets since March 1899, when the Imperial Patent Office in Berlin registered the trademark. Thanks to the production of aspirin, Bayer has become one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

But in addition to the invention of aspirin, the company was able to create another sensation in the medical world. In 1898, under the leadership of Heinrich Dazer, a drug was created that relieved pain better than morphine and was safer at the same time, in addition, employees of the company's research laboratory, who tested the new drug on themselves, found a powerful emotional reaction. This new drug was "heroin". At that time, "heroin" was available in the form of pills and syrups and was prescribed for many diseases, from the flu to multiple sclerosis.

Through numerous inventions and big income In the local market, the company began to expand into the global market, the creation of a worldwide sales network was a decisive factor in the continuous development of the company. From the very beginning, Bayer began to supply dyes and medicines to markets in many countries around the world.

By the early 20th century, over 80% of the company's revenue came from product exports. In 1865, the company acquired a share in the first foreign factory for the production of dyes from processed products. hard coal. One of the first foreign enterprises was a factory in New York City.

In 1876, the first enterprise of the company outside Germany was opened in Moscow - a factory aniline dyes"Friedrich Bayer & Co.".

In 1904, the famous cross became the logo of the Bayer company. Since Bayer aspirin was only distributed by pharmacists and doctors and the company could not use its own packaging, the cross was printed on the tablets so that consumers could associate the company's name with aspirin.

The first major test for Bayer was the First World War. Due to the conflict, the concern lost its sales markets and many subsidiaries. In the US, authorities confiscated the German company's facilities, along with patents and trademarks, and sold them to competitors.

In 1913, Bayer became one of the three largest German chemical companies, more than 10 thousand employees and workers around the world worked at the company's production facilities. The concern owned more than 8 thousand patents for various paints, medicines and chemicals. One of the achievements was winning a patent for synthetic rubber.

Because of its powerful scientific base, in the early years of the world war, the production of Bayer was subordinated to military needs, instead of aspirin, the production of trinitrotoluene, the most powerful explosive, was started. In addition to trinitrotoluene, the production of poisonous substances was organized, including chlorine, phosgene and "mustard" gas.

Despite all the achievements, after the defeat of Germany in the First World War, not only the company's foreign assets were confiscated, but also all patents and trademarks, including Aspirin. In addition, the global economic crisis of the 1930s was a strong blow, the company was forced to reduce its staff by 20%.

In 1925, Bayer, together with former competitors BASF and Hoechst, merged into the chemical concern I.G. Farbenindustrie AG. As a result, despite the fact that the German economy was devastated by the war, the fourth largest global corporation emerged in the country, which retained leadership in its industry. But the merger also had negative sides, until the 1950s, the Bayer trademark disappeared from the world market.

At this time, the company was engaged in new scientific developments, promising areas - synthetic rubber and polymers. Polyurethane was invented in the 1930s. But even greater success awaited the company in connection with the discovery of Gerhard Domagk, who discovered the therapeutic effect of sulfonamides. The researcher received Nobel Prize in 1939, and the company another unique scientific development.

During the Second World War, the potential of the company was in the hands of the Nazis, on the basis of the enterprises, the production of deadly gases and other poisonous substances was organized, among which was Cyclone-6, which was used in many concentration camps. In addition, dangerous drugs were tested on prisoners, slave labor was used in factories.

As a result, at the Nuremberg trials in 1947, the leaders of the united concern IG Farben were recognized as participants in war crimes. In 1950, IG Farben was split into 12 companies. As a result, Farbenfabriken Bayer AG reappeared in 1951. That is, the same companies entered the market of the chemical industry as before the unification of 1925.

Immediately after the war, the main problem was the restoration of foreign markets, despite the fact that the company for the second time in its history lost its foreign assets, including its valuable patents, Bayer's activities for domestic market was extremely important.

The ruined country needed medicines, as well as other chemical products of the company, and the country's economy needed tens of thousands of jobs. In the early 1950s, Bayer began buying up foreign subsidiaries. Like 30 years ago, the main sales market was the United States and Latin America.

Despite all the post-war difficulties, Bayer did not stop its scientific development, as in the 19th century, innovative research brought the company big profits, in the 50s, various drugs for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, dermatological antifungals and broad-spectrum antibiotics were created. The range of drugs was constantly growing and expanding, new production facilities were opened, and the number of personnel was growing. By 1963, the company employed more than 80,000 people.

The number of subsidiaries was growing, and for further development, a serious reorganization of the company was required. In 1971, the modern designation Bayer AG appeared, and the corporation was reformed into a branch structure that replaced functional organization introduced in the 1950s.

In 1957, Bayer entered a new market for oil products, this became possible after Bayer bought Deutsche BP, and formed a new enterprise, Erdolchemie GmbH. In addition, there were significant successes of the company in photographic equipment and agriculture.

In the 1970s, Bayer began active expansion into the American market. The company first acquired Cutter Laboratories Inc in 1974 and Miles Laboratories Inc in 1976, which allowed it to take a leading position in the US pharmaceutical market by 1978.

In the 1970s, Bayer was not only expanding production, but also actively began to care about protecting the environment. The first step was the launch of Europe's largest industrial water treatment plant in Dormagen. In addition, Bayer paid great attention and propaganda of the fight for the environment, raised public awareness of this problem. In 1980, Bayer Tower Biology began work in Leverkusen, which was engaged in the organization of cleaning Wastewater from biological contamination.

In addition to propaganda, Bayer also reduced its own emissions. So from 1977 to 1987, the content of heavy metals in used water decreased by 85-99%, and the emission of harmful gases into the atmosphere - by 80%. As a result, the fight for the environment has grown into a global trend, and Bayer has spent about 5 billion German marks on environmental safety.

From the 1970s to the 1990s, Bayer experienced constant transformation in the face of ever more pronounced globalization and changing global market conditions.

In the late 1980s, due to political changes in Europe, the company began active production and marketing activities in eastern Germany. In the late 80s, a new factory was built in the city of Bitterfeld, which produced products for Eastern Europe.

Bayer did not weaken its influence on the American market, in 1990 the largest acquisition in the history of the company took place - the Canadian company Polysar Rubber Corporation, headquartered in Toronto, was acquired. With this deal, the Bayer Group became the world's largest supplier of raw materials to the rubber industry.

Since in the middle of the 20th century, Bayer lost the opportunity to sell its products in the US market under its own name, the restoration of the trademark was an extremely important task. This became possible only after the purchase of the company that owned the right to the Bayer trademark.

That company was Sterling Drug, which specializes in the manufacture of self-medicating drugs. With this purchase, Bayer was once again able to operate in the US under its own name using its famous logo.

By the end of the 20th century, Bayer had regained its role as the world's largest chemical pharmaceutical concern. Thanks to the success of the company, the city of Leverkusen has become a powerful industrial and science Center Germany where they grew up scientific institutes and large enterprises.

One of the main pillars of its success Bayer owes to the notorious “aspirin”, which has always been in demand and has always helped the company to stay afloat and make big profits. Thanks to his profitable invention, Bayer spent huge amounts of money on the development of non-core enterprises, which were often unprofitable.

In addition, profits from the production and sale of aspirin helped the company weather the economic turmoil. Not many companies succeeded in this, often global corporations abandoned unprofitable industries. And Bayer, even in the “black” year for the company in 2001, managed to avoid a crisis and a drop in production, in addition, the corporate structure more than 120 thousand people worldwide.

In 2001, Bayer was at the center of an international scandal. As a result of taking the drug Lipobay, which is responsible for lowering blood cholesterol, 52 people died in several countries around the world. As a result, Bayer has spent around 800 million euros on settling relationships with its customers.

In June 2006, Bayer AG sold its Bayer Diagnostics, a medical diagnostics business, to Siemens AG for €4.2 billion. With a turnover of 1.43 billion euros and 5,400 employees, the division was fully integrated into Siemens AG in the second quarter of 2007.

The management of the company met 2008 with great optimism, and despite the difficult economic situation around the world, the company showed good results, in the first quarters the growth of assets amounted to more than 5% compared to the same period in 2007. Bayer HealthCare and Bayer CropScience showed themselves better than others - these two divisions, despite the crisis, are demonstrating active sales growth.

On November 2, 2010, Bayer AG signed an agreement to acquire Auckland-based veterinary company Bomac Group. Financial information has not been released due to non-disclosure obligations.

> Bayer, CJSC (Moscow)

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CJSC Bayer is the Russian office of the international wide-profile concern Bayer. The sphere of interests of this company includes healthcare, agriculture and light industry (manufacture of products from polyurethane and polycarbonate).

ZAO Bayer's medical subgroup specializes in the development, testing and production of modern pharmaceuticals and medical devices. The task of the Russian division is to introduce Bayer medicines to the market. The company's production portfolio includes both prescription and non-prescription drugs. One of the narrow specializations of the company is the development and production of systems for monitoring the level of glycemia, which are in demand in endocrinology. The company's pharmaceutical production facilities are located in Germany, in Leverkusen.

Bayer also develops products for the treatment of animals, as well as products for the care of pets and farm animals. Some of the company's products are in demand in the automotive industry, agriculture, and at home.

CJSC Bayer produces the following medicines:

drug from the group of chondroprotectors Teraflex used in osteoarthritis to strengthen and restore articular cartilage;

line of products for the protection and treatment of the skin Bepanthen, which includes Bepanthen cream to prevent dry skin, Bepanthen ointment for the prevention of diaper dermatitis and diaper rash, Bepanthen Plus, which has a complex antiseptic effect;

Bepantol emulsion- stretch mark remedy Bepanthol cooling foam for first aid for sun and other skin burns;

medicine Skinoren for the treatment of acne;

glucocorticoid drug Advantan in the form of a cream, emulsion, and ointment, the drug is effective for skin itching of various etiologies;

hypoallergenic agent for the care of dry, sensitive skin - Dardia;

balanced multivitamin complexes Supradin(recommended for adults) and Supradin Kids(for children from 3 years old);

vitamins Elevit-pronatal– vitamin and mineral complex for pregnant women;

vitamin complex berocca plus to restore and maintain overall performance;

heartburn remedy- antacid drug Rennie;

remedy for hemorrhoids Relief in the form of rectal suppositories;

calcium preparation in combination with vitamin D3 - Calcemin Advance for the prevention of calcium deficiency and the treatment of osteoporosis;

vasoconstrictor sprays Nazol, Nazol Advance, as well as sprays for children - Nazol Baby And Nazol Kids;

preparations based on acetylsalicylic acid - Aspirin-S And Aspirin Complex;

antipyretic Antiflu Kids for children;

analgesic drug Alka-Seltser used mainly in hangovers to treat headaches and other symptoms;

combined analgesic Saridon, effective for dental, menstrual and muscle pain;

device for measuring glucose level - blood glucose meter CONTOUR™ TS and a device for taking blood for analysis - MICROLET™2;

contrast agents Magnevist, Ultravist and Gadovist and systems for their introduction;

Xarelto preparations and Aspirin Cardio for the prevention of thromboembolic complications;

fluoroquinolone antibiotics Tsiprobay And Avelox;

drug Levitra for the treatment of erectile dysfunction;

hormonal remedy Nebido, an analogue of testosterone for the treatment of deficiency of this hormone in men;

oral contraceptives Byzanne, Jess Plus, Yarina Plus, Angelica And Mirena, which also have a therapeutic effect in some diseases of the female genital area;

anticancer drug Nexavar used to treat certain types of cancer;

remedy for the treatment of occlusive diseases of the arteries - Ilomedin, the use of which can significantly alleviate the condition of patients;

Iloprost- a drug for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

Bayer's non-medical products include plant protection products, high quality polyurethane and polycarbonate products.