Bayer first-half profits fall as does share price on withdrawal of Baycol

Bayer AG of Germany has posted first-half 2001 operating profits beforeexceptionals of 1.49 billion euros ($1.31 billion), a fall of 23.2% and a 2.6% decrease in net income to 1.01 billion euros. On the positive side, sales from continuing operations were up 7.7% to 15.62 billion euros.

However, Bayer's financial results were overshadowed by the news that the company has voluntarily withdrawn its cholesterol-lowering drug Baycol/Lipobay (cerivastatin), from all markets excluding Japan. The company decided to pull the treatment as a result of increasing reports of side effects involving muscular weakness (rhabdomyolysis) associated with Baycol. The main problem seems to have been in patients treated concurrently with another cholesterol-lowerer, gemfibrozil, and Japan has been excluded from the withdrawal because the latter drug is not available on that market.

Just a month or so ago, Bayer suspended marketing and distribution of the 800mcg dose form of Lipobay in the UK, and amended its labeling in the USA, where it is sold as Baycol, to highlight the fact that patients should not receive more than 400mcg of the drug as the starting dose, regardless of whether or not they have taken cholesterol-lowering drugs in the past. The effect of the Baycol withdrawal on Bayer's share price was immediate, as it declined almost 18% to close at 37.35 euros on August 8.