Bayer Health Care

“Bayer’s products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life.” – from Bayer’s Mission Statement

The development and maintenance of the Soweto Cardiovascular Research Unit website is kindly sponsored by Bayer Health Care Pharma.

The pharmaceutical giant Bayer was founded in 1863, by Friedrich Bayer and his partner, Johann Friedrich Weskott. Based in Leverkusen, Germany, it is today a huge, multinational conglomeration, employing more than 100 000 employees in more than 350 companies and in dozens of countries, and marketing more than 5000 products.

Bayer is famous for among other things inventing Aspirin, and for its distinctive cross logo, in which the word “Bayer” is embedded on both the horizontal and vertical axis.

In South Africa, Bayer employs more than 600 people, and has a long and proud track record of more than 40 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including in the research and development of medicine and equipment aimed at combating heart disease.
“We’re interested in the constant improvement of cardiovascular health in South Africa,” says Tanja Steenekamp, cardiovascular product manager for Bayer South Africa, “We believe strongly in research and development.” She adds that Bayer prides itself in the fact that it distributes drugs manufactured at its headquarters in Germany, through a distribution hub in Isando, Johannesburg, throughout Southern and East Africa

Steenekamp points out, “Cardiovascular disease is on the increase in South Africa, as a result of changing lifestyles. High cholesterol, hyper-tension and diabetes are all on the rise.”

She says that Bayer South Africa believes strongly in becoming involved in the public-sector health care, as well as the private sector. “At Bara and other government hospitals, our products and drugs are available for optimal patient care. By being committed to patients in the public and private health-care sector, we can contribute to better cardiovascular outcomes in South Africa.”

Bayer built part of the wing in which the Soweto Cardiovascular Heart Unit is situated at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, and has supported the hospital in various ways for over 10 years, including through studies like the Heart of Soweto Project. Steenekamp says the study is excellent, because “it will tell us so much about heart disease amongst the black population. It’s a subject about which not nearly enough is known.”

The company is also involved among other things in the Walter Sisulu Project at Sunninghill Hospital, which has given more than 20 children new hearts through heart transplants.

This centre aims to offer the best and safest corrective cardiac procedures to the underprivileged children of Africa who suffer from these life-threatening and life-limiting conditions. Bayer South Africa has been financially supportive of this unit since 2004.

Visit Bayer Health Care Pharma, or Bayer South Africa, or Bayer's international site.

“Bayer is a research-based, growth-oriented global enterprise with core competencies in the fields of health care, nutrition and high-tech materials. Our products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. At the same time we want to create value through innovation, growth and improved earning power.”
- www.bayer.com