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Bayer bids $2.4bn for Norway pharma firm

German pharmaceutical group Bayer has made a bid for its Norwegian partner and competitor Algeta, specialised in cancer treatments, for 1.8 billion euro ($2.4 billion), the Nordic company said on Tuesday.

Published: 26 November 2013 11:00 CET

Bayer bids $2.4bn for Norway pharma firm

Xofigo, Algeta's leading cancer treatment - Algeta

In a statement to the Oslo Stock Exchange responding to recent media reports, Algeta said that Bayer had offered 336 kroner (40.7 euro, $55.2) per share.

The company added that the acquisition price quoted in the media (306 kroner) was lower than the actual offer from the German group.

The bid was 27 percent higher than the last closing price of Algeta (264,60 kroner).

Algeta is specialised in radiotherapy treatments that use radium 223 and thorium 227 to destroy cancer cells while causing minimal damage to surrounding tissue.

The company's leading product Xofigo — a treatment for prostate cancer — was approved for use in the US in May and is distributed in cooperation with Bayer.

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French police to probe alleged Monsanto lists on opinion-makers

Activists from the 'Attac' protest group scale the offices of Bayer -which recently acquired Monsanto- in La Garenne Colombes near the financial district of La Defence on the outskirts of Paris. Photo

Paris judicial police will carry out the probe following a complaint by the daily Le Monde and one of its journalists, whose names appear on the list, the Paris prosecutor's office said.

Two anti-pesticide NGOs — Foodwatch and Generations Futures — are also preparing to lodge legal complaints over the alleged lists.

The investigators will look into the possible “collection of personal information by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means”.

US giant Monsanto allegedly had public relations agency FleishmanHillard draw up the files on the opinions of the targeted people and media bodies on the controversial weedkiller glyphosate and on genetically modified crops as

well as their propensity to be influenced in their opinions.

READ ALSO: French tomato grower with cancer takes on Monsanto over weedkiller

Figuring on the list are politicians, scientists and journalists — including four from AFP (Agence France-Presse). Information was collected on their views on pesticides and on Monsanto as well as their leisure pursuits, addresses and phone numbers, according to the France 2 public television channel.

Some of the names were listed under categories such as “priority targets” and “potential allies to recruit”, according to reports.

France's former environment minister Segolene Royal, whose name was said to appear on the lists, said the allegation “says a lot about the methods of lobbyists… they carry out spying, infiltration, seek to influence, sometimes financially I imagine”, adding that other companies are likely to indulge in similar practices.

A spokesman for FleishmanHillard told AFP: “FleishmanHillard and our staff are committed to compliance with applicable laws and we are committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.

“We continue to take that responsibility very seriously and will carefully examine the questions raised by certain media outlets about the lists of stakeholders that included publicly available information.”

Glyphosate developer Monsanto was convicted in the United States in 2018 and 2019 of not taking necessary steps to warn of the potential risks of Roundup — their weedkiller containing the chemical, which two California juries found caused cancer in two users.

German pharmaceutical firm Bayer, which bought Monsanto last year, announced last month that over 13,000 lawsuits related to the weedkiller have been launched in the US.

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