Bayer's pharma business is taking shape behind growth products Nubeqa and Kerendia, but for one more year overall sales are likely to drop as the company expects the decline of its mature products Xarelto and Eylea to kick into higher gear in 2026.
The primary growth drivers in Bayer’s pharma sector—Nubeqa and Kerendia—are performing even better than the company anticipated and their momentum is expected to continue in 2026. But that won’t lead to growth of Bayer’s pharma business overall this year as two contraction drivers—Xarelto and Eylea—are working in the opposite direction. This will be the last year of the sector’s “resilience phase,” Bayer’s pharma president Stefan Oelrich said during a quarterly conference call, which will set it up for growth in 2027.In a way, Bayer’s pharma business is the company in a microcosm. As the German conglomerate absorbs massive litigation charges related to its disastrous acquisition of Monsanto a decade ago and eyes a potential $7.25 billion settlement of Roundup lawsuits, a rebound is finally in sight.“We’re expecting a negative free cash flow this year, due to litigation-related payouts,” CEO Bill Anderson said. “That outlook is emblematic of the company’s current strategic position. Strong signs of progress but still working on a comprehensive turnaround.”Sales of prostate cancer treatment Nubeqa were up (PDF) 57% in 2025 to 2.4 billion euros ($2.7 billion). Meanwhile, kidney disease drug Kerendia achieved sales of 829 million euros ($936 million) in 2025, an increase of 79%, with a particularly notable year-over-year growth rate of 93% in the fourth quarter.“We’re well set for our next wave of growth, right into the next decade, driven by significant, sustained Nubeqa and Kerendia sales,” Oelrich said, also citing the launches of BridgeBio-partnered cardiomyopathy treatment Beyonttra and recently approved menopause drug Lynkuet, as well as the potential of investigational stroke medicine asundexian. On the flip side, sales of eye disease treatment Eylea were down 6% last year to 3.1 billion euros ($3.51 billion), with fourth-quarter sales falling by 16% year over year. Oelrich cited increased pricing pressures due to the market entry of biosimilars, which is being offset partially by an increase in volume, including a boost in the sales of the 8 mg, long-acting version of Eylea.“Biosimilar entry is not so much a volume erosion for us as it is much more a price erosion, and that’s really hard to beat,” Oelrich said.As for blood thinner Xarelto, which faces ongoing generic erosion, sales were down 33% in 2025 to $2.34 billion euros ($2.6 billion). The drug’s performance also saw a negative trend in the fourth quarter, with a year-over-year decline in the period of 39%.Bayer is expecting sales of both of the aging products to decline more rapidly in 2026, projecting a 20% to 25% slide in Eylea sales and a 35% to 40% drop for Xarelto.“We expect a modest contraction of our base business in 2026,” Oelrich said, adding that Bayer expects that top-line sales in the second half of the year will top those from the first half, setting the pharma sector to realize mid-single-digit growth in 2027. For 2025, Bayer’s pharma sector was down 2%, with sales falling to 17.83 billion euros ($20.1 billion). As for the fourth quarter, pharma sales were down 4% to 4.48 billion euros ($5.1 billion). Bayer’s consumer health unit showed a similar quarterly trend but to a higher degree, as sales for the year were down 1%, to 5.80 billion euros ($6.5 billion), while falling 7% in the fourth quarter to 1.46 billion euros ($1.6 billion).