Bayer is hoping that its new anticoagulant Asundexian will provide a strong tailwind for its pharmaceuticals business.

On Tuesday, the pharmaceutical and agricultural group significantly raised its forecast for the peak sales potential of its most promising blockbuster drug candidates - primarily thanks to expected sales of billions of euros with asundexiane. Pharmaceuticals CEO Stefan Oelrich now estimates the peak sales potential of his four most important growth drivers at a total of more than twelve billion euros. Bayer previously expected more than five billion euros. "We are making good progress in the transformation of our pharmaceuticals business," Oelrich told the Reuters news agency. "For the first time, we are beginning to see that a 'post-Xarelto' has actually set in at Bayer."

Replenishment from the pharmaceutical pipeline is essential for the Leverkusen-based company, as the patents for its bestsellers - the anticoagulant Xarelto and the ophthalmic drug Eylea - expire in the middle of the decade. For a long time, however, analysts considered the pipeline to be too weak to compensate for the loss of sales following the expiry of patents for the top drugs. However, with the novel anticoagulant Asundexian for the prevention of thrombosis and strokes, which is in the third and therefore decisive phase of clinical development, the prospects have improved significantly.

Oelrich believes that Asundexian alone has a peak sales potential of more than five billion euros, more than any other of his drugs. Bayer has not yet published a sales forecast for the anticoagulant, which is expected to be ready for the market in 2026 and, according to initial data, led to significantly lower bleeding rates than the anticoagulant Eliquis from competitors Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer. For the kidney drug Kerendia, which according to Oelrich had an "incredibly good" market launch in the USA, the company has increased its forecast and now expects potential sales of more than three billion euros instead of more than one billion euros.

AROUND 40 PREPARATIONS IN CLINICAL TRIALS

For the cancer drug Nubeqa - which Bayer believes has the potential to become the standard therapy for prostate cancer patients in the early to late stages of the disease - the company continues to expect a peak sales potential of more than three billion euros. For the active ingredient elinzanetant, which is currently being tested in a Phase 3 trial for the treatment of hot flushes during menopause, Oelrich continues to forecast sales of more than one billion euros. Bayer expects the first results from this study in the second half of this year.

"In addition, positive study results from our cell and gene therapy platform offer potential that cannot yet be quantified precisely, but could generate sales of several billion euros," said Oelrich. In recent years, Bayer has strengthened its pharmaceutical business primarily with deals in the field of cell and gene therapies, which are currently among the most expensive drugs in the world. The company's development portfolio in this area includes several compounds in various stages of clinical development. Bayer currently has a total of almost 40 programs in clinical development.

(Edited by Sabine Wollrab. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at berlin.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for politics and the economy) or frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (for companies and markets).)

- by Patricia Weiss and Ludwig Burger