Monday, 15. January 2007

Bayer Technology Services Collaborates with the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Pharmacokinetic and Pharmacodynamic Modeling and Simulation Techniques for the Clinic: PK-Sim® Helps to Optimize Drug Therapy for Children

Bayer Technology Services GmbH (BTS) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have entered into a collaboration to bring the advantages of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic modeling and simulation techniques into the clinic. The project combines BTS's proprietary physiology based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) simulation software, PK-Sim®, with CHOP’s in house data-driven population models to optimize an individual drug therapy for children.

The models will be integrated into CHOP’s “Pediatric Knowledgebase,” a CHOP funded initiative that aims to bring modeling and simulation for patient-optimized care into the clinic by creating a user-friendly graphical computer interface. This software will present the attending physician with all relevant patient information and dosing history as well as predict, through simulation, the expected trends in drug plasma concentrations. This will allow for informed dosing decisions specific to each child. Efforts to expand the development of the Pediatric Knowledgebase to additional hospitals in the Pediatric Pharmacology Research Unit Network (PPRU) are currently underway. “We are committed to developing drug-specific dashboards where the medical need is greatest,” says Dr. Jeff Barrett, the Director of the Laboratory for Applied PK/PD within the Division of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics and the Project Leader.

The PK-Sim® software contains physiological and clearance information for children of all ages and supports the prediction of pharmacokinetics for use in personalized dosing. The technique is well suited for extrapolating pharmacokinetics in children with atypical physiology and pathological conditions. “This collaboration will couple the PBPK modeling expertise of BTS with the modeling strengths and clinical experience of the CHOP researchers. Together, CHOP and BTS will explore the optimal use of state-of-the-art in-silico techniques, and we aim to demonstrate the usefulness of physiology-based modeling in guiding dosing decisions. ” says Jörg Lippert, Head of the Systems Biology Group of BTS.

For further information on the PBPK software, PK-Sim®, see
http://www.bayertechnology.com/pk-sim.
For more information on the Pediatric Knowledgebase software, see
http://stokes.chop.edu/programs/cpt/pkb/index.php.

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the U.S.A.'s first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals and pioneering major research initiatives, Children's Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country, ranking third in National Institutes of Health funding. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 430-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu.

Bayer Technology Services GmbH is the center for technological competence of the Bayer Group worldwide. The Bayer company employs more than 2,100 experts worldwide at its headquarters in Leverkusen and other German locations, as well as in regional offices in Baytown (Texas, USA), Antwerp (Belgium), Mexico City (Mexico) and Shanghai (People's Republic of China). Bayer Technology Services posted sales of EUR 360 million in 2006. In addition to fully-integrated solutions along the life cycle of pharmaceutical and chemical plants - from development through engineering and construction to process optimization, Bayer Technology Services offers a broad range of products and services for all stages of diagnostics and drug research and development. Examples include nano-phosphors, the pharmacokinetic simulation software PK Sim® as well as sophisticated data mining and modeling techniques.

Contacts:

Birgit Neumann
Phone: +49 214 30 83254, Fax: +49 214 30 9683254
E-Mail: birgit.neumann(at)bayertechnology.com

Wolfgang Weiss
Phone: +49 214 30 80018, Fax: +49 214 30 62530
E-Mail: wolfgang.weiss(at)bayertechnology.com

Jeff Barrett
Phone: +1 267 4265479
E-Mail: barrettj(at)email.chop.edu

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Bayer management. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in our public reports file with the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – including our Form 20-F. Bayer assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.