Bayer A "Moderate Outperformer"

German chemical and pharmaceutical company Bayer is being rated as a moderate outperformer by analysts at Goldman Sachs. The company recently announced interim results (Marketletter December 5 and this week page 26), and gave a presentation to investors, in which it spoke at some length about its pharmaceuticals business.

The analysts note that the most impressive aspect of the presentation was Bayer's life cycle management for both the antihypertensive Adalat (nifedipine) and the antibiotic Cipro (ciprofloxacin).

Launched in the 1970s, Adalat still has marginal growth due to the once-daily formulation, point out the analysts. Furthermore, Cipro is clearly the treatment of choice among the quinolone antibiotics, they add, with a 70% share of the US oral market and a 90% stake as an intravenous formulation. Double-digit growth is expected in 1994 to over 2 billion Deutschemarks ($1.3 billion). Further growth can be achieved with line extensions and new indications.