2012-07-16
Bayer sells Trasylol business
German pharmaceutical and chemical company Bayer sells the business with controversially debated drug Trasylol. The privately-held Dutch pharma The Nordic Group receives the worldwide marketing rights - except the US-territory.
The purchase price for Trasylol was not specified. In late 2008, health authorities in Germany and the United States told Bayer to stop distributing the aprotinin drug anywhere else. The trypsin inhibitor, which accounted for about EUR150m in annual sales, was used for complicated heart and liver surgery to reduce blood loss. In February this year, however, the EMA lifted the sales stop. The study results leading to the market ban had been incorrect said the Committee for Human Medicinal Products (CHMP). This positive opinion is expected to be ratified by the European Commission later in 2012. In Canada, the marketing stop had already been lifted in 2011. The Nordic Group is a European pharmaceutical company in private hands. Nordic claims to grow at an annual average rate of 20 percent. The companys focus is on niche products for hospitals and medicines for rare diseases.