His scientific contributions are regarded as classics: the studies about the insulin effect on adipose tissue (together with George F. Cahill Jr. ), his work on the biosyn- thesis and secretion of insulin (together with Lelio Orci and Claes W ollheim) and his studies on various spontaneous and induced diabetes syndromes in rodents (together with Bernard Jeanrenaud and Eleazar Shafrir). Albert Renold will be remembered for a long time by all who knew him for his achievements, for his kindness and his humanity. We dedicate the Proceedings of this symposium to his memory. Werner Creutzfeldt Pierre Lefebvre G6ttingen Liege History and Philosophy of Bayer Pharmaceutical Research W. -D. Busse Fachbereich Forschung Pharma, Bayer AG, D-5600 Wuppertal, FRG Research has a long tradition at Bayer. This year, 1988, marks 100 years of our pharmaceutical activities. In 1888 the first Bayer drug - phenacetin, an antipyreti- was synthesized, starting from a by-product of dye manufacture. This finding led to the establishment of a Pharmaceutical Department within Friedrich Bayer and Co. in Elberfeld, with all its associated facilities (Fig. 1). The beginning of the company itself, however, dates back to 1863. In that year, Friedrich Bayer started the produc- tion of aniline dyestuffs in his private house in Barmen-Rittershausen. During the 125 years of the company's life and the 100 years of pharmaceuticals, many developments and products have been discovered by Bayer researchers and launched by Bayer.

The problem of treating diabetes mellitus seemed to have been solved by the discovery of insulin and the production of purified crystalline insulin compounds whose time of effect can be varied by using different additions. Orally applicable substances for reducing the blood-sugar level have been searched for in order to free the diabetic from the necessity of daily injections. There are also other reasons for this research. Pathophysiological investigations in diabetes mellitus have shown that metabolic errors are not always based on a simple insulin deficiency but that in many cases other insulin antagonistic factors playa part. For instance, the concept of deficiency diabetes growth-onset type, usually found in juveniles and ectomorphs, was contrasted with the concept of hypertensive diabetes (R. SCHMIDT 1924, 1930) or "Gegenregulationsdiabetes" (BERTRAM) or, "Oberfunktionsdia betes" (BARTELHEIMER 1940) or "Lipoplethoric- diabetes" (LAWRENCE) in which there is a positive correlation to the adipose hyperplastic habitus with hypertensive tendencies (BARTELHEIMER 1940, ApPELS 1951). In this type of diabetes there is no ketosis tendency and a low insulin- glucose equivalent, i. e. relative insulin resistance (F ALTA) due to a hormonal imba- lance (too much blood-sugar-raising hormone is produced by the anterior pituitary lobe and the supra-renals and possibly also glucagon) or, to increased insulin de- gradation in the organism, especially the liver (insulinase system, MIRSKY 1949, 1956).