Bayer Yakuhin sees 2005 sales rise 4%

Turnover at Bayer Yakuhin, the Japanese unit of Bayer HealthCare, in 2005 increased 4% to 91.9 billion yen ($781.2 million) on a National Health Insurance drug price basis compared to the previous year, the company announced at a recent press conference in Tokyo.

The good financial results were attributable to continuous growth of its mainstay products, such as: Adalat (nifedipine), a treatment of hypertension and angina, with sales of 40.3 billion yen on an NHI price basis (+1.8% compared to a year ago); Glucobay (acarbose), for diabetes, with turnover of 14.0 billion yen (+5.3%); Kogenate FS (recombinant factor VIII), for hemophilia, with revenues of 6.5 billion yen (+10.2%); Cipro (ciprofloxacin), for infectious diseases, with turnover of 6.0 billion yen (+1.7%); and Bayaspirin (aspirin), for thrombosis, with sales of 6.3 billion yen (+18.9%).

"We can make up for the damage caused by the reduction of the NHI drug prices which the company have an impact of 5.6% on average on our products by means of continuous growth of the existing products and new products," said Kazunori Eiki, president of Bayer Yakuhin.