News coverage of the more than 4,000 lawsuits filed against Bayer HealthCare remains scant at best. A few news outlets have covered various details about the substantial health risks incurred by young women who take Yaz, Yasmin, Ocella and other generic replicas of the popular birth control pills. Recent coverage of Bayer consists of reports of 3rd quarter earnings.
ABC News reports that Bayer’s 3rd quarter earnings have gone up by 12% from the 3rd quarter of last year. The article said, “The pharmaceutical business expanded strongly in emerging markets, but Bayer reported “negative consequences” from health care reform efforts in various countries and said business was down sharply in North America as sales of Yaz oral contraceptives suffered from competition from generic drugs.” That might be a gentle way of saying that consumers are not as willing to risk their lives by choosing Bayer’s birth control products over other less controversial options.
The Wall Street Journal reports Bayer HealthCare’s 3rd quarter sales at 4.3 billion Euros. The coverage does not highlight details of how profits and sales have been affected by thousands of pending Yaz lawsuits. Bayer apparently hopes to avoid any major investigative coverage of their waning sales of dangerous birth control pills.
Of all the financial coverage about Bayer’s rise in profits and earnings in the 3rd quarter, none of the articles mention any of the legal pressure currently weighing on the company. However, the ABC News article mentions that Bayer set aside 50 million Euros “to deal with “anticipated defense costs” in connection with the contraceptives Yaz and Yasmin.” Fifty million Euros may be only the beginning of a huge settlement amount once the pending Yaz trials get underway.
References:
Divac, Natascha. (October 28, 2010) “Chemicals Recovery Aids Bayer.” Retrieved on November 5, 2010 from the Wall Street Journal.
Ickes, William. (October 27, 2010) “Profits jump at BASF and Bayer.” Retrieved on November 5, 2010 from Google Hosted News.
Moulson, Geir. (October 28, 2010) “Bayer 3rd Quarter Earnings up 12 Percent.” Retrieved on November 5, 2010 from ABC News.
Reuters Staff Writer. (October 28, 2010) “Update 2-Bayer Q# results marred by legal provision.” Retrieved on November 5, 2010 from the Forex Pros.