The Supervisory Board of Bayer AG appointed Kemal Malik (51) to the Board of Management of Bayer AG effective February 1, 2014. Malik has been a member of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee, Head of Global Development and Chief Medical Officer since July 1, 2007. He is to succeed Professor Wolfgang Plischke (62) effective April 30, 2014, upon Plischke's retirement as of that date. Plischke joined Bayer in 1980 and has been a member of the Board of Management since March 1, 2006. He is responsible for Innovation, Technology and Sustainability and the Asia/Pacific region.

Malik will be responsible for Innovation and take over responsibility for the North America region. Effective April 30, 2014, Labor Director Michael König (50) will assume responsibility for Technology and Sustainability and for the Asia/Pacific region. The successor to Kemal Malik in his current functions at Bayer HealthCare will be announced at a later date.

"In recent years, Kemal Malik has very successfully driven the development of new drug products such as the anticoagulant Xarelto," said Werner Wenning, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bayer AG. "His international expertise will further strengthen Bayer's innovative capability, especially in the life sciences. My sincere thanks go to Wolfgang Plischke on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board for his successful work on the Board of Management. I would also like to expressly thank him for his recent service as interim head of our health care business." 

Kemal Malik was born in Slough, United Kingdom, on September 29, 1962. He studied medicine at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School (University of London), graduating as a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MB, BS) in 1987. Malik subsequently spent several years in clinical medicine at the Northwick Park Clinical Research Centre, London. He then held various positions of increasing responsibility in medical affairs and clinical development at Bristol-Myers Squibb in the United Kingdom.

Malik joined Bayer in 1995 as head of Metabolism and Oncology Europe in what was then the Pharmaceuticals Business Group. He subsequently served as Head of Global Medical Development before being appointed Head of Global Development.

Professor Wolfgang Plischke was born in Stuttgart, Germany, on September 15, 1951. He studied biology at Hohenheim University before starting his career in 1980 with Bayer's subsidiary Miles Diagnostics. In 1995, he became President of Bayer Yakuhin Ltd., Japan, with responsibility for Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Care. In 2000, Plischke took over as head of the Pharmaceuticals Business Group in North America. In January 2002, he was appointed head of the Pharmaceuticals Business Group at Bayer AG with responsibility for the global business with prescription medicines. From July 1, 2002, until his appointment to the Board of Management of Bayer AG, Plischke was a member of the Bayer HealthCare Executive Committee and head of the Pharmaceuticals Division. 

Plischke also holds a number of offices outside of Bayer AG. He is a member of the boards of the Walter Siegenthaler Society, the German Asia-Pacific Business Association and the Robert Koch Foundation. In addition, he is a member of the boards of trustees of the Paul Ehrlich Foundation and the German Chemical Industry Fund. Plischke is also Vice President of the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC), Chairman of the CEFIC Research and Innovation Programme and Chairman of the Healthcare Committee of the Federation of German Industries (BDI).

In July 2011, Wolfgang Plischke was appointed honorary professor for Business Chemistry at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.