Bayer has posted a healthy set of results for 2013 this morning, driven by strong sales of new drugs, headed by Xarelto and Eylea.

Turnover edged up 1% to 40.16 billion euros, hampered by currency and portfolio  adjustments, while net income shot up 32.7% to 3.19 billion euros. Healthcare revenues increased 1.7% to 18.92 billion euros. The anticoagulant Xarelto (rivaroxaban, the eye drug Eylea (aflibercept) and the new cancer treatments Xofigo (radium 223) and Stivarga (regorafenib) posted combined sales of 1.52 billion euros.

Chief executive Marijn Dekkers (pictured) told reporters at the company's annual press conference in Leverkusen that these four drugs, plus the pulmonary hypertension treatment Adempas (riociguat), will have peak sales of at least 7.5 billion euros. Previously, the estimate was 5.5 billion euros.

Estimated peak annual sales potential for Xarelto has been increased from more than 2 billion euros to 3.5 billion euros, while that of Eylea has been raised from at least 1 billion euros to at least 1.5 billion euros. However, Dr Dekkers noted that further investments in marketing, distribution and life-cycle management "will be required to exploit these opportunities and actually achieve the aforementioned sales potential".

He added that Bayer currently ranks 14th in the pharmaceutical league table based on revenues but expects to reach 10th in the next few years, without acquisitions. The new products "should get us there or very close to it", Dr Dekkers claimed.

There will be much more from the Bayer press conference in Monday's PharmaTimes news