First World Health Summit took place in Berlin

Topics covered at the summit included prevention, pandemic control, infectious diseases, access to health systems, personalized medicine, the impact of climate change on health, health economics and the funding of healthcare systems. Among the approximately 30 speakers at the Summit were national and international health and research ministers and secretaries of state from four continents, representatives of the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, CEOs from the pharmaceutical industry and medical technology sector, several Nobel Prize winners and presidents of leading national and international scientific bodies. The World Health Summit 2009 was the first in a series of annual Summits and is under the patronage of Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel and the French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Arthur Higgins, CEO of Bayer HealthCare and President of the European Pharmaceutical Association EFPIA, was one of the keynote speakers, and addressed the challenges of providing high-quality healthcare in a global economic crisis, and he also congratulated the Charité. “First of all, allow me to warmly congratulate the Charité on its 300-year anniversary. Charité is one of the leading university hospitals in Europe, whose history is intrinsically linked to the history of Berlin, a city with a strong tradition in medicine and medical technology. And Bayer Schering Pharma, as the largest German pharmaceutical company, is proud both of having its headquarters in Berlin and of its long and fruitful cooperation with the Charité.”

At the World Health Summit, Bayer Schering Pharma contributed to a symposium on the improved diagnostic and therapeutic options made possible by molecular imaging. “We are a pioneer in this area and place a strong focus on molecular imaging in our R&D activities. Why? Because we are convinced that this provides a new dimension for the practice of medicine,” said Andreas Fibig, Chairman of the Board of Bayer Schering Pharma. The ability to identify a disease at an early stage and with great precision is one of the main components in successful treatment and as such can lead to a better quality of life for patients. Among the many and varied diagnostic options available, in vivo imaging methods are particularly important because they visualize tissues and organs in their natural position inside the body. Contrast agents improve the quality of images of bodily structures and functions.

Bayer Schering Pharma is a pioneer in the development of contrast media for diagnostic imaging and is one of the global leaders in the market for products used in X-ray imaging and magnetic resonance imaging and in in vivo diagnostics.

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