BERLIN/SAN FRANCISCO (dpa-AFX) - Bayer wants to use new drugs to more than make up in the medium term for the prospect of lost revenues from its blockbusters Xarelto and Eylea. Four important growth drivers are to bring it in total to peak sales of more than twelve billion euros, as the pharmaceutical and agrochemical group announced on Tuesday on the occasion of an industry conference of the bank JPMorgan. However, it will still take a few years until then: Two of the drugs - the anticoagulant Asundexian and the active ingredient Elinzanetant for menopausal symptoms - have not yet been approved. Business with the prostate cancer drug Nubeqa and the drug Kerendia for kidney patients with diabetes got off to a good start.

Bayer's share price reacted positively. The shares extended their gains and rose by a good three percent to 53.48 euros at the top of the Dax. In the still young stock market year 2023, the gains thus add up to almost eleven percent. After a setback at the end of 2022, the share price is currently back at the level of early December.

Pharma CEO Stefan Oelrich believes that the two drugs already approved will each generate peak annual sales of more than three billion euros. This is nothing new for Nubeqa, but Kerendia had previously only been expected to generate sales of one billion euros. However, raising revenue targets for new products after a solid sales start is not unusual.

While Xarelto and Eylea accounted for nearly 40 percent of Bayer's pharmaceutical sales in the first nine months of 2022, with revenues of EUR 5.7 billion, new drugs contributed more than half of the division's growth. In absolute terms, however, their contribution is still very small. Nubeqa revenues, for example, rose to a good 300 million euros, more than double the previous year's figure. Oelrich told the financial news agency dpa-AFX that he was also very satisfied with the development of sales in the final quarter.

The pharma boss did not give exact figures for Kerendia, as Bayer only reports these for the top 15 drugs. However, the manager expressed optimism. The growth contribution of the new agents will strengthen in the coming quarters, he said.

The anticoagulant Asundexian is expected to generate peak annual sales of more than 5 billion euros in the long term. Bayer recently launched a pivotal Phase III study program with the potential successor to Xarelto for the prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (cardiac arrhythmia). In addition, the drug is being studied in patients who have suffered a certain cerebral infarction (non-cardioembolic ischemic stroke).

However, competitors are not asleep in the development of such novel anticoagulants, which are designed to reduce the risk of blood clots while posing fewer bleeding risks than current drugs. For example, competitors Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson are driving the development of Milvexian. As a result, Bayer is trying to gain speed. The goal is a regulatory filing for asundexian no later than 2026, Oelrich says.

And ultimately, the manager also remains confident about the active ingredient elinzanetant for menopausal symptoms, with a peak sales target of more than one billion euros, despite potentially strong competition. After all, the market for such drugs is large enough. Initial results from a pivotal trial program are expected in the second half of 2023.

Unlike with Xarelto and Eylea, Bayer is relying more on its own sales in the U.S. for the new drugs. Revenues and profits in the important pharmaceutical market will therefore flow to Leverkusen. Overall, the Group is thus focusing more strongly on the U.S., a market that currently seems more attractive than Europe.

For example, Bayer continues to feel the effects of the sharp rise in costs for many raw materials, precursors and services. "And Bayer has the structural disadvantage of having a relatively small U.S. business so far," Oelrich said. In the U.S., pharmaceutical companies can pass on at least some of the rising costs to prices. In Europe, meanwhile, price pressure tends to prevail./mis/tav/jha/