Profits fall at Bayer but new drugs see growth
pharmafile | May 1, 2015 | News story | Sales and Marketing | Bayer, Eliquis, Eylea, Renegeron, Xarelto, apixaban
Bayer’s pharmaceutical revenues have continued their upward trajectory in the first quarter of 2015 thanks to new products, although this was offset by a drop in profits.
Net profit declined 8.4% to €1.3 billion year-on-year, which the company attributed to “the integration of acquired businesses, the consolidation of production sites and additional efficiency improvement measures”. However Bayer still raised its full year forecast due to strong sales growth.
Continuing from the firm’s record sales last year, revenues in its healthcare division increased to €5.7 billion. Pharmaceuticals accounted for €3.2 billion of this, climbing 7% on a currency- and portfolio-adjusted basis. Products acquired from the company’s takeover of Merck’s consumer health business contributed to similar growth in this area, bringing in €495 million in revenues and matching Bayer’s expectations.
“At HealthCare we continued to benefit from the positive development of our recently launched pharmaceutical products and the gratifying expansion of business in consumer health,” says Bayer chief executive Dr Marijn Dekkers.
“Given the business development in the first quarter and especially in view of the much more favorable exchange rates as of 31 March, we are raising our group guidance for 2015.”
Eye medicine Eylea saw the biggest sales increase of any prescription pharma product, rising 55% to €253 million. The drug is co-produced with Renegeron and has seen approval for several new indications over recent months.
Blood-thinner Xarelto (rivaroxaban) – which is co-produced with Janssen – continued to be the company’s biggest pharma product, rising 38% to €482 million for this quarter, although this was below analysts’ estimates.
This drug is facing competition from Pfizer’s strong-selling Eliquis (apixaban) and a series of lawsuits in the US over internal bleeding risks. Bayer has maintained that it believes the side effects of the medicine were communicated clearly to doctors and patients.
Meanwhile other new products also continued to grow. Cancer drugs Xofigo (radium-223 chloride) and Stivarga (regorafenib) had revenues of €54 million (up 28%) and €71 million (up 14%) respectively, while pulmonary hypertension treatment Adempas (riociguat) had sales of €38 million, up from €9 million in 2014.
Established products also did well, with the hormone drug line Minera (levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system) rising by 14% and Aspirin Cardio for secondary prevention of heart attacks climbing by 8.3 per cent.
However, anticoagulant Kogenate (antihemophilic factor) saw a 9.8% drop in sales due to “the use of production capacities to develop next-generation hemophilia medicines”, and revenues from multiple sclerosis treatment Betaferon (interferon beta 1b) also continued to fall thanks to generic competition, with a slight drop of 1 per cent.
George Underwood
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