FRANKFURT, Feb 5 (Reuters) – Bayer said on Thursday its experimental blood thinner cut the risk of stroke recurrence by 26% in a late-stage trial, in a fresh boost for CEO Bill Anderson’s turnaround efforts.
The German group said the read-out came from a Phase III study comparing a combination of standard antiplatelet therapy and Bayer’s asundexian with antiplatelet therapy alone in patients who had previously suffered a stroke or similar blocked blood vessels in the brain.
The study, known as Oceanic-Stroke, on the prevention of blood clotting, or thrombosis, involved more than 12,000 patients.
The results, which included reassuring data on bleeding risks, are another boost for Anderson, who is overhauling Bayer’s management structure to revive a stock battered by costly litigation and massive financial debt.
“It’s really the holy grail of antithrombotic therapy … being able to prevent thrombosis without compromising safety or bleeding,” Ashkan Shoamanesh, the study’s co-principal investigator, told Reuters.
Bayer’s stock was boosted last month by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear the company’s bid to limit lawsuits claiming that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. That could fend off billions in product liability claims that have been a drag on the shares for years.
The stock started to rebound in November, when the pharmaceutical and crop protection company said the asundexian trial was successful in a brief summary of results.
Thursday’s trial results mark a revival in fortunes for asundexian. For years a pillar of Bayer’s drug development efforts, it failed in a clinical trial at the end of 2023 involving a larger patient group at risk of stroke but who had not yet had one.
Bayer added it would seek regulatory approval for the drug.
Rivals Novartis, with its abelacimab, and Bristol Myers Squibb, working with Johnson & Johnson on a compound called milvexian, have not yet reported late-stage results on stroke prevention.
($1 = 0.8676 euros)
(Reporting by Patricia Weiss. Writing by Ludwig Burger. Editing by Mark Potter)
