Bayer to sell cancer drug Stivarga to Gruenenthal for up to €375 million

Gruenenthal expects deal to close by end of 2026 or early 2027

Bayer has agreed to sell the rights to its cancer drug Stivarga to Germany’s Gruenenthal Group for up to 375 million euros ($430.7 million), the acquirer said Monday.

The drug, marketed under the brand name Stivarga, is approved to treat advanced forms of metastatic colorectal cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastrointestinal stromal tumors, Gruenenthal said.

Stivarga is due to lose patent protection in the European Union in 2029 and in the United States a year later, according to Gruenenthal.

For Gruenenthal, the acquisition marks the latest step in a strategy to acquire established drugs that serve continuing medical needs, the company said. Gruenenthal projected that the deal would lift its 2027 earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization by up to around 100 million euros.

Gruenenthal expects the acquisition to close by the end of 2026 or early 2027, subject to customary closing conditions.

For Bayer, the Stivarga sale follows the German agricultural-and-pharmaceutical group’s earlier-this-month completion of a sale of a minority stake in its long-acting reversible contraceptives business to Apollo for around 3 billion euros.