German Drugs and chemicals group Bayer has forged an alliance for its struggling pharmaceuticals business with US drugmaker Schering-Plough.
Bayer said Schering-Plough would take over US sales of Bayer antibiotics Avelox and Cipro, blood pressure drug Adalat and impotence treatment Levitra.
Under its new deal with Bayer, Schering-Plough will jointly sell Levitra with Glaxo in the United States.
Cipro and Adalat are Bayer's top two drugs but have been steadily losing sales due to generic competition.
Sales of all Bayer drugs to be sold by Schering-Plough were €350m in the first half of this year.
Bayer will sell some Schering-Plough cancer products in the US and Europe. The two companies will jointly sell Schering-Plough's Zetia cholesterol fighter in Japan once it is approved by regulators there.
