Bayer AG

Bayer is an international concern specializing in health, agriculture and high-tech materials.

Aktivs

• Bayer HealthCare - Drug and Medical Device Development.
• Bayer CropScience

Business in Russia and Ukraine

• BAYER CJSC is the company's representative office in Russia.

• Bayer Ukraine

Performance indicators

2020:5% decrease in revenue, to 41.4 billion euros, net loss - 10.5 billion euros

In 2020, the net loss of the German chemical and pharmaceutical concern Bayer amounted to 10.5 billion euros, in 2019 a profit of 4.1 billion euros was recorded. Bayer's revenue decreased by 5%, to 41.4 billion euros against 43.54 billion in 2019.

The reason for Bayer's large losses is primarily a few agreements concluded in 2020, according to which the concern must pay compensation. In June 2020, Bayer agreed to pay compensation in the amount of $10.9 billion in claims over the Roundup weed control tool, which, as follows from a thousand lawsuits, was harmful to health, and in some cases caused the development of cancers. In August, the concern agreed to settle the claims of American consumers, who accused Bayer of the fact that the company's Essure contraceptive causes serious health problems. In these lawsuits, Bayer agreed to pay $1.6 billion in compensation.

The impact of the pandemic puts an additional strain on our crop business. We also face the negative impact of exchange rates, "said Wolfgang Nikl, CFO of the concern.

Bayer losses at the end of 2020 reached €10.5 billion

Nickl said the dramatic depreciation of the Brazilian real is taking a serious toll on Monsanto's legacy 2018 business in the world's second-largest agricultural market.

The negative impact on financials was mitigated by a surge in demand for Bayer's blood thinning drug Xarelto. Anticoagulants have become a key treatment option for COVID-19. The concern noted a decrease in demand for its cough and cold medicines, linking this to improved hygiene measures during the pandemic.

Bayer also noted that the increased attention of people to their health and disease prevention in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in demand in all regions for dietary supplements and drugs to improve digestion.^[1]

History

2024: The company's debt exceeded its capitalization. Group split is undone

In March 2024, chief executive Bill Anderson said German conglomerate Bayer was "badly broken" and could not currently split.

Investors have long pushed Bayer to split into three separate groups, but Anderson said the expected loss of exclusivity on key drugs, high debt, costly litigation over the Roundup herbicide and the group's internal red tape prevented it from doing so.

2023

American school leaks Bayer chemicals, causing students to develop cancer

On December 18, 2023, a Washington state court ordered the German company Bayer to pay more than $850 million in compensation for the leakage of chemicals that provoked the development of malignancies in seven people. The victims included former students and volunteers from the Sky Valley State Training Centre in Monrow.

The case file refers to the leakage of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which can be used as an insulator in electrical engineering. PCBs have also been used in other common products such as copy paper, seals, paints, etc. US authorities banned the use of these chemicals in 1979 after their connection with the development of malignant tumors was discovered.

The manufacturer of substances whose leakage was recorded in the center of Sky Valley was the chemical company Monsanto

The manufacturer of substances whose leakage was recorded in the center of Sky Valley was the chemical company Monsanto. Bayer bought this company in 2018 for $63 billion. According to investigators, the PCB leak occurred from lighting fixtures in an educational institution. The plaintiffs say these chemicals provoked their cancer, thyroid disease and other health problems, including damage to the nervous system.

According to the court order, Monsanto is obliged to pay a total of $73 million in damages and $112 million to each of the seven plaintiffs as penalties. Thus, the amount of penalties is $857 million.

In turn, Monsanto says it stopped using PCBs in 1977. The company also highlights that since the 1990s the Sky Valley training centre has been repeatedly warned of the need to upgrade lighting fixtures, but these warnings have been ignored. Monsanto plans to appeal to lift penalties, which the company calls excessive.^[2]

Bayer will pay another $1.5 billion for the development of cancer in companies in contact with the herbicide

On November 17, 2023, a Cole County jury in Missouri fined Bayer AG more than $1.5 billion. The verdict comes as part of proceedings related to the Roundup herbicide, which is said to cause serious harm to people's health and can provoke the development of malignancies. Read more here.

Purchase of the developer of AI tools for medical imaging Blackford Analysis

On January 18, 2023, the German chemical-pharmaceutical corporation Bayer announced the conclusion of an agreement to buy Blackford Analysis, a British developer of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Read more here.

2022

US Department of Justice paid $11 million to employee for information about fraud in the company

On September 16, 2022 US Department of Justice , a case was settled against pharmaceutical manufacturer Bayer. It was also disclosed information that a former employee of the marketing branch of the company, who filed two lawsuits on the concept of common law, in which the company was accused of violating the False Claims Act, received $11 million for information about fraud.

The lawsuits allege that the company paid bribes to paramedics to persuade them to use Trasylol and Avelox, and sold these drugs for misuse, which was not meaningful and necessary. The first lawsuit, which was sent to the District of New Jersey, said that because of these "kickbacks," the company provided false information to Medicare and Medicaid. The second lawsuit, which was filed in the District of Minnesota, alleged that Bayer intentionally misrepresented Baycol's harmlessness and drug effectiveness data and, based on these inaccurate data, renewed contracts with the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA).

US Department of Justice paid $11 million to employee for information about fraud in the company

To settle these charges, Bayer was ordered to pay $38,860,555 and $1,139,445 to Medicaid states. The Chief Deputy Assistant Attorney General noted that this settlement once again highlights the important role that whistleblowers play in effectively using the False Claims Act to combat fraud in federal health programs.

The False Claims Act in the United States was created to incentivize citizens to report fraudulent acts against the government and prosecute companies that receive illegal financial benefits from participating in government contracts and government-sponsored programs.^[3]

Payment of $40 million for deception of US state programs

In early September 2022, the Bayer concern agreed to pay $40 million as part of the settlement of claims for alleged violations of the American federal law The False Claims Act, which provides for the responsibility of persons and companies for deceiving state programs.

According to Pharmaceutical Technology, citing the US Department of Justice, the claims are related to three drugs - Trasylol, Avelox and Baycol. Claims against Bayer in 2005 and 2006 were made by a former employee of the concern Laurie Simpson. She accused the company of paying doctors and hospitals to use Avelox and Trasylol, and also selling drugs for off-label use, which was not justified or necessary.

Bayer will pay $40 million for deception of US state programs

In addition, the plaintiff claimed that Bayer downplayed the risks associated with the use of Trasylol and the statin drug Baycol, and overestimated the effectiveness of Baycol. Subsequently, both drugs were withdrawn from sales for safety reasons.

The lawsuit pointed out that Bayer's actions led to fraud as part of the implementation of state Medicare and Medicaid programs, and the deception prompted the US Defense Department's combat logistics agency to resume some Baycol-related contracts.

Шаблон:Quote 'This behavior undermines the reputation of federal health programs and jeopardizes patient safety,' Philip Sellinger, US Attorney for New Jersey, said in a statement. Po, in the to data Reuters settlement agreement, Bayer does not admit guilt. The concern said in a statement that the decision was made for business reasons and taking into account the fact that "a peaceful settlement is preferable to the further continuation of the already protracted process."

The Department of Justice clarified that Bayer will pay $38.9 million to the US federal authorities, and 20 US states and Washington, DC, whose laws the company allegedly violated, will receive another $1.1 million. Former Bayer employee Lori Simpson will receive $11.1 million from the funds received as a result of the settlement.^[4]

Continued export of agricultural goods to Russia amid conflict in Ukraine

In August 2022, the German chemical-pharmaceutical company Bayer decided to continue exporting industrial goods agricultural Russia to amid the ongoing conflict on. To Ukraine

Sale of Environmental Science Professional

On March 10, 2022, private equity firm Cinven agreed to buy Environmental Science Professional's pest control unit from Bayer AG for €2.4 billion. The deal optimizes the portfolio of the German Bayer crop division and will allow you to focus on your main agricultural business in order to improve the efficiency of the main activity, the company said in a statement. BofA Securities acted as financial advisor to Bayer, with Hengeler Mueller as legal advisor. Read more here.

2021: $2 billion cancer drug developer purchase

In early August 2021, the German drug manufacturer Bayer AG acquired the American biotechnology company Vividion Therapeutics for $2 billion. Vividion is developing promising therapies for cancer and immunological diseases that are severely amenable to conventional therapy. Read more here.

2020

Purchase of biotech company Asklepios BioPharmaceutical

At the end of October 2020, Bayer entered into a deal to acquire Asklepios BioPharmaceutical for $2 billion. The deal provides for additional payments in the amount of another $2 billion upon reaching predetermined performance parameters. As a result of the purchase, Bayer will gain control of the gene therapy platform, which is used to find drugs against Parkinson's disease, Pompe's disease and heart failure. Read more here.

Bayer kept silent about thousands of complaints about defective contraceptive implants

In mid-July 2020, it became known that Bayer kept silent about thousands of complaints about defective contraceptive implants. Essure The content of the relevant court documents was disclosed by the agency. Bloomberg More. here

2019

Sale of veterinary business to Elanco for $7.6 billion

On August 20, 2019, Bayer announced the sale of the veterinary business of the American company Elanco Animal Health, which specializes in creating drugs for animals, for $7.6 billion. The deal is scheduled to close by mid-2020.

Under the terms of the agreement, the German company will receive $5.23 billion in monetary terms and $2.3 billion in shares at a price of $33.6 apiece.  

Following its acquisition of Bayer, Elanco will rank second in revenue in the global veterinary drugs market with a 13% market share. The first position will remain the American company Zoetis, which was separated in 2012 from the pharmaceutical corporation Pfizer. 

As Bayer executive director Werner Baumann noted, the sale of the veterinary division will allow the company to focus efforts in the field of pharmaceutical production, over-the-counter products and crop production.  

The sale of the business is due to the need to reduce the debt burden of approximately 35.5 billion euros, which arose as a result of the acquisition of the American producer of genetically modified seeds of agricultural crops Monsanto.^[5]

Bayer to pay record $2bn to married couple with cancer due to Roundup

In mid-May 2019, the court ordered Bayer AG to pay more than $2 billion to a California couple who claimed that they cancer had developed due to constant contact with the herbicide. Roundup It is the largest amount set by a court for damages in 2019 and the eighth highest on record for product defect payments. More. here

2018: Bayer to pay $289m to gardener who received deadly disease from herbicide

In August 2018, a jury in a California court ordered Bayer to pay $289 million to gardener Diouen Johnson, who developed a deadly disease due to the use of the dangerous herbicide Roundup (also known as glyphosate) manufactured by Monsanto, which was previously acquired by a German concern for $62.5 billion. Read more here.

2017

Sale of agricultural assets

In October 2017, Bayer announced the sale of a significant portion of its agricultural assets to BASF. The value of the transaction amounted to 5.9 billion euros (about $7 billion) - a record amount for BASF. Read more here.

Virus attack

WannaCry became the first ransomware virus to attack not only personal computers of medical institutions, but also medical equipment itself.

On May 17, Forbes published a screenshot of a Bayer Medrad device infected with WannaCry, the infamous ransomware virus that killed more than 200,000 Windows computers in 150 countries. Read more here.

1898: Invention of heroin

Opium contains 24 alkaloids, among them morphine prevails. For the first time, pure morphine from an extract of opium poppy in 1803 was isolated by the German pharmacist Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner. He named the compound he isolated morphine after Morpheus. After the discovery, morphine began to be actively used, but its chemical structure was finally established only in 1925.

Long before the chemical structure of morphine was finally established, scientists made attempts to modify this molecule so as to obtain a more effective painkiller that would not be highly addictive. In 1898, researchers at the German pharmaceutical company Bayer subjected morphine to an acetylation reaction.

However, in this case, the reaction led to completely different consequences. At first, the results seemed encouraging, with diacetylmorphine proving to be an effective analgesic when used at very low doses. The creators called it heroin (implying that this is a "heroic" medicine). But it turned out to be one of those substances that is most addictive.

Since it turned out that heroin released by the company does not cause nausea and constipation, like morphine, it began to be prescribed for cough, asthma, migraine, even with tuberculosis.

However, as soon as the side effect of this substance became apparent, the company stopped advertising it. ^[6].

1894: Invention of aspirin

In 1894, Bayer researchers obtained aspirin by acetylation reaction from salicylic acid.

Notes