Bayer has officially opened its new rapid-prototyping facility in Darmstadt — not just to advance plant-based products like Iberogast, but to position itself as a major player in the emerging biotics-led health economy.

While Iberogast remains the flagship — a phytomedicine with 60+ years of clinical backing — the strategic signal from Bayer is clear: the future of natural health will be driven by biotics.

“This lab is a game changer,” said site lead Chloe Picot. “With full in-house prototyping capabilities, we can now rapidly develop new combinations of botanical extracts and biotic strains, bringing science-driven gut health solutions to market faster than ever.”

From herbal extracts to next-gen biotic platforms

The new facility is designed as an integrated innovation hub, combining microbial fermentation technologies, plant extract formulation, and clinical modeling capabilities under one roof. It will fuel the evolution of products like Iberogast from herbal relief solutions to evidence-based microbiome interventions.

Thorsten Umland, Head of Digestive Health R&D at Bayer, summed it up: “Consumers want natural, but they also want proof. With Iberogast we’ve shown that phytomedicine can be clinically validated”. Now Bayer is ready to do the same for biotics.

From wellness supplement to medically trusted biotic

Bayer’s strategy is to carve out a new category at the intersection of nutrition, microbiome science and pharmaceutical credibility — bringing biotics out of the wellness niche and into clinically proven, pharmaceutically trusted territory.

If successful, the next wave of gut health products won’t just claim to be natural — they’ll be microbiome-powered and science-certified.