Best known globally for its aspirin and locally for its life-saving hemophilia treatments, drug giant Bayer is firming up plans to lead one of biotech's hottest areas with a pioneering new cell therapy manufacturing facility on its fast-changing Berkeley campus.
The moves come as Bayer seeks approval from Berkeley leaders for a new 30-year master plan that would allow the Germany-based company to build 1 million square feet of production, research and office space and add some 1,000 employees over that period.
At the forefront of Bayer's big plans are cell therapies, which employ genetically engineered cells to fix blood cancers and potentially more diseases, and one-shot-and-done gene therapies that insert a correct copy of a gene to replace a defective, disease-causing gene.
A growing body of contemporary research and reporting exposes how old ideas can find new life when repurposed within modern systems of medicine, technology, and public policy. Over the last decade, several trends have converged:
By Daphne O. Martschenko and Julia E. H. Brown, Hastings Bioethics Forum | 01.14.2026
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There is growing concern that falling fertility rates will lead to economic and demographic catastrophe. The social and political movement known as pronatalism looks to combat depopulation by encouraging people to have as many children as possible. But not just...
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