Dive Brief:
- Bayer is projecting a major increase in sales of the company's top five drugs. Bayer is setting expectations of roughly $4.6 billion for 2015.
- The company's revenues are starting to rise, partly on the recent strength of the dollar.
- Bayer's Q4 2014 earnings fell slightly short of goals, but still increased by 4.4% to $2.08 billion.
Dive Insight:
Despite the fact that Bayer's Q4 earnings fell short of ambitious projections, the company is in growth mode nonetheless.
It's a very dynamic time at Bayer. Projections by division are that consumer health sales will be relatively weak, while chemical sales will be strong. In addition, the company is planning to sell of its plastics business. But, perhaps most importantly, Bayer is expecting each of its top five products (including Xarelto and Eylea) to creep towards blockbuster status.
Eylea could be a particularly strong contender for that title—in fact, on Thursday, the drug won yet another indication in the EU (this time for treatment of macular edema cause by retinal vein occlusion).