Bayer to increase R&D spending above euro2.8B

FRANKFURT — Pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG said Friday the company would increase its research and development spending above the current euro2.8 billion ($3.75 billion) and called on the government for tax breaks for such spending.

The company did not specify how much more it would spend.

Leverkusen-based Bayer also said the company's pharmaceutical pipeline includes 50 projects currently in phase I to III of clinical testing, while the company is poised to introduce 10 new crop protection active ingredients to the market between 2008 and 2010.

"The task is now to set the right course," Werner Wenning, the chief executive said at "Bayer's Perspective on Innovation 2008" press conference.

"Only through innovation can our company generate the growth that is essential to safeguard its sustained success."

Wenning said the government should introduce more substantial tax breaks for R&D, as has already occurred in some European countries.

"For a research-based company located in Germany, it is particularly important that this country's innovative capability will be further enhanced," he said.

Shares of Bayer were 2.3 percent lower at euro38.86 in Frankfurt morning trading.

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