After a series of defeats, Bayer has won a glyphosate lawsuit in the USA.
The decision by a jury in San Benito County, California, confirms that the weed killer glyphosate “is not responsible for the plaintiff’s illness,” Bayer announced over the weekend. “We have won 10 of the last 15 lawsuits and see ourselves as strengthened in our strategy of bringing lawsuits to court.” The DAX-listed pharmaceutical and agrochemical company has recently had to cope with several setbacks, not only in court, but also in the development of an important drug candidate.
Just last week, a US jury in Washington state ordered the Leverkusen-based company to pay a total of 857 million US dollars (785 million euros) in damages in a legal dispute over the alleged health effects of the chemical PCB, which has been banned for decades. These are intended to go to former students and parents of a school in the Seattle area. As in other cases, Bayer plans to appeal the ruling.
The PCB and glyphosate cases are a legacy of the US agricultural chemical company Monsanto, which was acquired in 2018 for over $60 billion. The settlement of the glyphosate dispute in particular has already cost billions. The recent defeats do not make work any easier for Bayer CEO Bill Anderson, who only took over the helm in June 2023. Anderson is supposed to bring about a turnaround, and a split up of the group is also an issue.
Making matters worse, however, is a failure in the pharmaceutical division to develop a successor to the anticoagulant Xarelto – a drug worth billions. In November, Bayer had to prematurely end a pivotal Phase III study investigating Asundexian in patients with atrial fibrillation and at risk of stroke. Asundexian is still being tested in other indications, but the failure means that a lot of sales potential will be lost.
With a price loss of around a third, Bayer shares will be one of the biggest losers in the German leading index DAX in 2023.
/mis
HOLLISTER (dpa-AFX)
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