European Drug Watchdog Supports New Pill by Bayer

LONDON (Reuters) — Bayer’s experimental anticoagulant Xarelto, its biggest new drug hope, has been recommended for approval by the European Medicines Agency, lifting the German company’s shares. The drug watchdog said on Friday that its Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use had backed Xarelto for the prevention of blood clots after hip or knee surgery. Recommendations for marketing approval by the committee are normally endorsed by the European Commission within a couple of months. Bayer, which estimates that global sales of the drug could reach 2 billion euros ($3.14 billion) for all indications, said it was particularly pleased by the speedy positive opinion. “We received it only nine months after the submission — very fast compared to average,” said Kemal Malik, a member of the Bayer HealthCare executive... [read full story]