By Christopher Alessi 

FRANKFURT--German pharmaceuticals giant Bayer AG and U.S. health care investor Versant Ventures plan to establish a stem-cell research company, marking the latest effort by a big pharmaceutical company to develop new and innovative drugs by joining with venture capital and biotechnology firms.

Executives at Bayer and Versant said in an interview that they would launch the startup, to be called BlueRock Therapeutics, with initial joint funding of $225 million. BlueRock plans to focus on developing stem-cell therapies to regenerate heart muscles following a heart attack and treatments for Parkinson's disease.

The companies plan to formally announce the deal on Monday.

Write to Christopher Alessi at christopher.alessi@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2016 06:54 ET (11:54 GMT)