Bayer has decided to offload its aging cancer drug Stivarga to German compatriot Grünenthal as competition mounts.
Grünenthal announced Monday that it will pay up to 375 million euros ($431 million) to acquire Stivarga, an oral multikinase inhibitor.
According to Grünenthal, patent protection for Stivarga is expected to last until 2029 in the European Union and by 2030 in the U.S. But loss of exclusivity in China has already taken a toll on sales.
Citing impact from China’s centralized tender program for off-patent drugs, Bayer reported an 18% decline in Stivarga sales in the first half of 2026 to 148 million euros.
To Grünenthal, CEO Gabriel Baertschi described the deal as “a strong strategic fit” that reflects the company’s “disciplined M&A strategy of acquiring established medicines that address clear and ongoing medical needs and create long-term value.”
Grünenthal expects the deal to close by the end of 2026 or the beginning of 2027. The company estimates that Stivarga may contribute about 100 million euros to its consolidated EBITDA for next year.
“By leveraging the strength of our commercial and operational expertise, we see clear opportunities to maximize the value of the medicine and support Grünenthal’s long-term growth,” Baertschi said.
Fierce has reached out to Bayer about potential personnel changes.
Stivarga had been under pressure even before China’s volume-based procurement hit in 2025, when Bayer handed regional promotion rights for Stivarga and another older cancer drug, Nexavar, to local firm Yifan Pharmaceutical. In all three FDA-approved indications—namely, liver cancer, colorectal cancer and gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST)—Stivarga has been facing stiff competition.
In Nexavar-pretreated liver cancer, Exelixis’ Cabometyx represents a formidable rival to Stivarga. Ayvakit, originally developed by Blueprint Medicines and now owned by Sanofi, target certain mutations of GIST. And in liver cancer, the FDA is expected to rule on Exelixis’ investigational zanzalintinib, used alongside Roche’s Tecentriq, in March 2027, after the combo beat Stivarga in a head-to-head phase 3 trial.
Bayer embarked on a multiyear transformation under CEO Bill Anderson in 2024, removing management layers to accelerate the commercial push for newer growth products like prostate cancer drug Nubeqa and kidney disease and heart med Kerendia.
The Stivarga sale comes a few weeks after the German pharma inked a potential deal worth 3 billion euros to sell a minority stake in its long-acting reversible contraceptives business to asset management firm Apollo.
For its part, Grünenthal has built a business model buying established, cash-generating brands to fund R&D and stabilize revenue. Some purchases it made in recent years include paying 500 million euros for Bayer’s hypogonadism drug Nebido in 2022 and buying Vaolinor Pharma and its opioid-induced constipation treatment Movantik for $250 million in 2024.
For 2025, the company reported record-high adjusted EBITDA of 500 million euros and a 46% increase in operating cash flow to 309 million euros. In its full-year 2025 report issued in March, Grünenthal touted its net leverage of 2.24x and its financial position for future R&D investments and further acquisitions.