Bayer HealthCare growth helps to bolster group sales in 2013

Bayer HealthCare has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth for the Bayer group during the 2013 business year.

The organisation as a whole generated sales of 40.16 million euros (33.11 billion pounds) during the year, up by one percent annually. This represented a new record for Bayer, which celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2013.

Within the HealthCare division, sales totalled 18.92 billion euros, up by 1.7 percent on 2012. This was largely attributable to the successful launch of various pharmaceutical products, as well as the strong performance of the consumer care business.

Newly-launched drugs such as Xarelto, Eylea, Stivarga, Xofigo and Adempas all gained traction in the market, leading the company to significantly increase its estimate of the combined peak annual sales potential of these five products to at least 7.5 billion euros.

Management board chairman Dr Marijn Dekkers said: "We met important business objectives in our anniversary year. We are optimistic for 2014 and plan further growth in sales and earnings."

This comes after the firm cleared the way to complete its takeover of Algeta last week, while also agreeing a deal to acquire China's Dihon Pharmaceutical Group.