Bayer’s Xarelto anti-clotting drug targets potential $15bn market
Germany’s Bayer yesterday said it was targeting a market worth as much as $15bn (£9.6bn) with its anti-blood-clotting pill Xarelto, setting the stage for decisive study results to be released later this year.
Chief executive Werner Wenning, who will hand over to Marijn Dekkers next month, said the new generation of experimental anticoagulants such as Xarelto – designed to replace problematic existing treatment warfarin – could have combined annual sales of $12-$15bn.
Industry analysts believe the market eyed by Bayer and its development partner Johnson & Johnson could eventually be worth more than $10bn a year and possibly as much as $20bn.
Wenning also reconfirmed an estimate for Xarelto, based on the active ingredient rivaroxaban, to have peak annual sales of more than €2bn (£1.7m). A key study on Xarelto will be presented at the American Heart Association meeting in November.