Shares in Bayer rose sharply after Orion Corporation, Bayer’s co-development partner for darolutamide (marketed as Nubeqa®), updated its estimates for annual net sales recorded by Orion. Based on joint scenario planning, Orion now believes that combined tablet sales to Bayer plus royalties could exceed €1 billion per year by the end of the current decade. That forecast underscores the rapid global uptake of darolutamide in both non-metastatic castration-resistant and metastatic castration-sensitive prostate cancer, where uptake has doubled in major European markets over the past 12 months and reached over 200,000 patients treated worldwide.

At a recent investor briefing, Stefan Oelrich, head of Bayer’s Pharmaceuticals Division, reaffirmed the company’s goal to return the division to mid-single-digit percentage revenue growth by 2027 while lifting operating margins to approximately 30% by 2030. To achieve these targets, Bayer plans to drive five pivotal regulatory filings in 2026–2027, expand market penetration in cardiovascular and oncology franchises, and realize cost savings through organizational delayering and digitalization initiatives aimed at reducing operating expenses by €500 million annually by 2028.

During the 44th J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, Bayer outlined its 2026 strategy, highlighting five worldwide product approvals secured in 2025 and an accelerating, modality-rich pipeline. Key assets include asundexian, which met its primary endpoints in the Phase III OCEANIC-STROKE trial and has Fast Track status in the U.S.; finerenone (Kerendia®), now approved in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction following positive FINEARTS-HF data; and sevabertinib (Hyrnuo®), granted accelerated approval for HER2-mutant non–small cell lung cancer. Bayer also emphasized its precision oncology efforts with next-generation targeted radionuclide therapies and investigational KRAS inhibitors entering Phase I development.