Features

Bayer Schering

#14 Bayer Schering



Bayerwerk, Gebäude W11, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Allee, 51368 Leverkusen, Germany
Tel: (49) 214 30 1   Fax: (49) 214 30 66328
www.bayer.com



Headcount 106,200 (40,000 in pharma)  
Year Established 1971  
Pharma Revenues* $12,294 +44%
Total Revenues* $44,391 +22%
Net Income $6,458 +205%
R&D Budget** $2,081 +32%

* Pharma unit, not including diagnostic imaging revenues of $1.8 billion
** R&D only for Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals unit
Top Selling Drugs
Drug Indication Sales (+/-%)
Yasmin*** female health $1,428 +152%
Betaferon*** MS $1,409 +110%
Kogenate hemophilia $1,121 +13%
Adalat hypertension $842 +2%
Avalox antibiotic $610 +23%
Cipro antibiotic $525 -19%
Mirena Women’s health $495 +137%

Account for 65% of total pharma sales, up from 58% in 2006.

*** First full year of sales

PROFILE



Bayer’s acquisition of Schering AG became official in mid-2006, creating Bayer Schering Pharma. The move led to a boost of nearly 50% in Bayer’s pharma revenues, enough to bump the company from 16 to 14 on our list, and leaving it temporarily within shouting distance of Schering-Plough.
The Lowe Down: BS

This is the first full year of Bayer Schering, so any judgments about the new operation will have to be tentative. Nexavar, the oncology compound that Bayer brought to the deal, is continuing to do well, and a big hope is another Bayer molecule, the Factor Xa inhibitor. (Blood clotting is a crowded market, but seems to be inexhaustibly huge). The messy loss of one of their other products in that area, though (Trasylol), hasn’t exactly built confidence.

The company definitely went against the trend by cutting all its research in the U.S. and pulling back to the fatherland. The idea of “national champions” in the drug industry has always seemed fairly silly to me, but if Germany has one (or wants one), Bayer Schering is presumably it. (Merck Serono might wish to dispute that!) They’ve got an unfortunate set of initials for the English-speaking world, though, as their American researchers would have told them if they’d had long enough to mention it.

—Derek Lowe

SP will be moving on up, post-Organon, and Bayer Schering may be facing big problems in 2008. In March, a court overturned a key patent for Bayer’s top seller, Yasmin oral contraceptive, opening the door for Barr Laboratories to launch a generic. The drug accounted for around $500 million in U.S. sales in 2007 and was part of the Schering acquisition.

In June 2008, Bayer announced an authorized generic Yasmin with Barr beginning July 1, 2008, as well as an authorized generic of next-generation oral contraceptive Yaz by July 2011. The agreement stipulates that if Bayer gets the patent restored, it will receive a larger percentage of sales from Barr. Meanwhile, Bayer is suing Watson and Sandoz over their generic filing for Yasmin.

In worse news, BS pulled Trasylol, a treatment for bleeding during coronary artery bypass surgery, after a study reported a shocking increase in mortality among patients, compared to older treatments. One doctor estimated that use of Trasylol — and Bayer’s lack of disclosure about a post-market study of it — may have led to as many as 22,000 deaths. Here’s hoping Bayer saved some cash for a legal liabilities fund after spending around $23 billion to pick up Schering. 


For the full profile, including pipeline and patent information, download the PDF.

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