Bayer Has a Big Headache
June 17, 2008 10:09

Not tonight dear, Bayer has a headache, despite 2007 being a very good year for Bayer's profits and shareholders.

The bad news is that 2008 had some major setbacks. Among them is that Trasylol, a drug used in more than 33 percent of people undergoing heart surgeries are administered Trasylol. So far there are more than 200 lawsuits pending in federal courts.

According to Jim Ronca, a partner at the Philadelphia personal injury law firm Anapol Schwartz, "Now with the growing body of scientific evidence showing that the risks of Trasylol outweigh the benefits, the number of cases could increase substantially, potentially by tenfold."

A great deal of controversy follows Trasylol from the studies and findings questioning Trasylol's safety and effectiveness. Also if the FDA had removed Trasylol after the first study's findings in January 2006, instead of waiting until November 2007, some 22,000 lives could have been saved.

Other headaches for Bayer include scrapping a promising new drug that was being tested for lung cancer. The drug is approved to treat other kinds of cancer but Bayer was counting on this drug to bring in billions for lung cancer.

Also a heart medicine was pulled from the market because of intellectual property rights. It looks like 2008 is a year of wrongs. Stay tuned.

Source: Business Week