By Neetha Mahadevan
FRANKFURT--Bayer AG (BAYN.XE) said Monday its pulmonary
hypertension drug, Adempas, has been approved by the European
Commission for the treatment of two chronic forms of hypertension,
chalking up another approval for one of its five key drugs.
Adempas, also known as Riociguat, is one of Bayer's five
promising new drugs with a combined sales potential of EUR7.5
billion. Adempas, which alone has peak sales potential of more than
EUR500 million annually, is the first and only drug approved for
patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, or
CTEPH. The drug has also been approved to treat patients with
pulmonary arterial hypertension, or PAH.
"With the approval of Adempas by the European Commission, an
important new treatment option becomes available for patients with
pulmonary hypertension in Europe," Bayer HealthCare's Head of
Global Development Joerg Moeller said.
Adempas has been approved in the U.S. and Canada for both forms
of pulmonary hypertension, while it was approved in Japan for CTEPH
in January this year. In the European Union, riociguat has also
been granted orphan drug designation.
Pulmonary hypertension is a severe, life-threatening disorder of
the heart and lungs in which the blood pressure in the pulmonary
arteries is above normal, and which can lead to heart failure and
death.
Write to Neetha Mahadevan at neetha.mahadevan@wsj.com
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