The anticoagulant XARELTO with the active ingredient rivaroxaban is one of Bayer’s best-selling and most-sought after pharmaceutical products. Although it is just as effective as the “gold standard” Phenprocoumon, it is considerably more expensive and involves more risks. Now they are claiming that blood clotting tests are no longer necessary. However, the clinical approval studies were carried out on test subjects with healthy kidneys and subjects under 70 years of age. These are not the typical patients who require anticoagulants. In the case of elderly patients or those with kidney problems, treatment with rivaroxaban is like flying blind and can often be fatal. A further disadvantage of rivaroxaban is that there is no antidote in the event that a patient requires emergency surgery or experiences unstoppable bleeding. Studies that suggest the superiority of rivaroxaban were carried out with defect INR testing meters to check coagulation. Furthermore, 34 percent of the comparison group had not been given an adequate dose of the vitamin K antagonists. As alternatives to rivaroxaban are available in the form of vitamin K antagonists and NOAKs, it is not ethically justifiable to prescribe this treatment or for Bayer to sell it. However, the Board of Management has ignored these concerns. Their actions should therefore not be ratified.We therefore call upon the Board of Management of Bayer
• to publish the trial results allowing for the approval of rivaroxaban and to
• ensure that a suitable antidote is developed as soon as possible,
• to stop the misleading advertising of rivaroxaban and
• to refrain from influencing the scientific panels that set guidelines.
We request notification of this countermotion and the reasons for it pursuant to Sections 125, 126 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG). The stockholders are asked to transfer their voting rights to the Coalition against BAYER Dangers.