Bayer today announced Juergen Eckhardt MD, MBA as the new Head of Business Development & Licensing / Open Innovation (BDL/OI) of its Pharmaceuticals Division effective September 1, 2023. He will join the Pharmaceuticals Executive Committee and report to Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG, and President of the company’s Pharmaceuticals Division. At the same time, Eckhardt will continue to lead Leaps by Bayer, the company’s impact investment arm and in that role continue to report to Bill Anderson, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG.
“Juergen’s expertise of more than 25 years in the healthcare industry as a physician, strategy consultant and venture capital investor in healthcare, biotech, and agriculture will be key to lead our external growth strategy,” said Stefan Oelrich, Member of the Board of Management, Bayer AG, and President of the company’s Pharmaceuticals Division. “At the same time, I like to express my sincere gratitude to Friedemann Janus for stepping in as acting head of the BDL/OI organization in the past months.”
Juergen Eckhardt joined Bayer in 2016 to help start Leaps by Bayer, focusing on investments in breakthrough technologies in health and agriculture. Since then, Leaps by Bayer invested more than $1.7 billion in more than 55 companies, several of which have been acquired by Bayer to strengthen Bayer’s technology portfolio and pipeline. Eckhardt began his career as a physician at the University Hospital of Basel, Switzerland and was a management consultant with McKinsey & Co. as well as a Venture Capital investor prior to joining Bayer. He has been a board member of numerous biotech companies and has led many partnering transactions throughout his career. Juergen received his MD from the University of Basel and his MBA from “Institut Européen d’Administration des Affaires” (INSEAD) in Fontainebleau, France.
“At Bayer we are strong believers in collaboration and partnering as a strategy to combine each other’s strengths and capabilities in order to deliver breakthrough innovation to patients,” said Juergen Eckhardt, Head of Business Development & Licensing / Open Innovation and Head of Leaps by Bayer. “Listening to our partners’ needs and exchanging ideas to find the best solutions for our patients will continue to be integral to our partnering approach and I am looking forward driving this together with the BDL/OI teams around the globe.”
