Bayer boosted by Schering integration
pharmafile | March 4, 2009 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Bayer
Profits at Bayer's healthcare division rose by 10% to 4.1 billion euros last year as it increasingly felt the benefits of its 2006 acquisition of Schering.
Earnings would have been higher but for negative currency effects and the company's considerably higher marketing costs in emerging markets and for the introduction of new products.
Overall, group sales rose by just 1.6% in 2008 to 32.9 billion euros, with sales at Bayer HealthCare climbing 4.1% to 15.4 billion euros.
The Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Health arms of the company's healthcare division both did well, with the pharma segment up 4.3% to 10.7 billion euros.
The company's 2008 highlights included the first marketing authorisations for its anticoagulant Xarelto.
"We believe this innovative drug has the potential to achieve peak annual sales of more than two billion euros," said the Bayer management board chairman Werner Wenning.
The drug is administered in tablet form for prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism following elective hip or knee-joint replacement surgery in adults.
Xarelto is also in the final phase of clinical development for long-term use indications.
Bayer's Yaz oral contraceptives brand saw sales up 22.2%, while cancer drug Nexavar was up 75.7%. The company's multiple sclerosis treatment Betaferon/Betaseron growth by 15%.
In consumer health, sales were up 3.6% to 4.7 billion euros for the year.
"We expect further growth in earnings at HealthCare and CropScience, along with a substantial reduction in net debt," said Wenning.
In Bayer's non-prescription medicines business, Bepanthen/Bepanthol had the strongest sales growth, up 20.7%.
Antifungal Canesten saw sales rise 16.1% and Bayer's Contour blood glucose monitoring devices, for diabetes sufferers, were up 18.4%.
The performance of Bayer Group's HealthCare business unit was somewhat overshadowed by losses at its chemicals division.
Known as MaterialScience it provides plastics for industrial production and dipped sharply last year – a victim of the worsening global economic situation, the company says.
Sales fell 4.6% to 9.7 billion euros in 2008, with volumes in the fourth quarter down 30% year on year.
The drop emphasised Bayer's reliance on its health business: the Leverkusen-based company is Germany's biggest drug manufacturer following the acquisition of Schering.
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