Asia - Bayer Healthcare posts big growth in Asia Pacific

Bayer's Asia sales rise 9.4 pct in 2011, upbeat on outlook

(Reuters) - Bayer Healthcare, a unit of Germany's largest drugmaker Bayer AG, said on Friday its sales in the Asia Pacific grew 9.4 percent to 3.6 billion euros ($4.8 billion) in 2011 and it is confident it can maintain growth in the region.

Bayer, which started producing the Aspirin painkiller in Shanghai as early as 1936, said late last year that it aimed to have sales in Asia of well over 11 billion euros by 2015, with roughly 6 billion euros coming from the Greater China region.

"Emerging markets are the focus of most companies as the European and U.S. economies slow down ... in Bayer we get a disproportionately high share of revenues from the emerging markets," said Alok Kanti, regional head for Bayer's HealthCare Pharmaceuticals in Asia Pacific.

"We are confident about our growth prospects in the region based on the dynamic development of the economy and the innovative potential of the pipeline."

Sales growth was especially strong in Singapore (30 percent), Vietnam (26 percent), Pakistan (26 percent), Malaysia (14 percent) and Indonesia (13 percent), Kanti said in a telephone interview from Singapore.

Bayer declined to provide a breakdown for its sales in China.

Emerging economies make up 32 percent of Bayer's global sales, with the United States comprising 22 percent, western Europe 30 percent and others 15 percent.

One of Bayer's most important products is the anti-clotting drug Xarelto. The company hopes it will soon win approval in more countries to use Xarelto to prevent strokes in patients with atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat.

Xarelto is now used mainly to fight deep vein thrombosis in patients undergoing hip and knee replacement surgery.

Sales of Xarelto for use in hip and knee surgery grew 109 percent in Asia in 2011 and Bayer expects stronger sales growth when it is approved for use in stroke prevention, Kanti said.

"Approximately 1.7 percent of people suffer from atrial fibrillation and, therefore, a significant portion of these people would be eligible to take this drug," Kanti said.

Bayer spent 2 billion euros developing Xarelto, including on research and development, and the product used 70,000 participants in clinical studies.

Xarelto has already won approval in the United States, European Union, Malaysia and Japan for use in stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation, or an irregular heartbeat, and approvals from other counties are expected in coming months.

China is expected to give its approval within two years.

Bayer posted a 9 percent drop in fourth-quarter profit, hit by a weak performance at its plastics business. ($1 = 0.7534 euros)           

Tan Ee Lyn

(Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

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