Bayer Has Paid Out $1.138 Billion; Average Baycol Settlement is $377,195
On August 10, 2005 it was reported that as of June 30, 2005 Bayer AG has paid $1.138 billion to settle 3,017 injury and death claims involving its former statin drug Baycol, which is known as Lipobay in Europe and elsewhere. Accordingly, based on this information provided by the drug company, Bayer has paid on average $377,195 for each settled Baycol case.
Insofar that most if not all Baycol case settlement agreements likely contained confidentiality clauses, it is difficult to independently confirm the accuracy of the Baycol litigation numbers provided by Bayer.
This latest Baycol litigation update by Bayer further informed investors and others that there are 5,986 remaining Baycol and Lipobay cases, worldwide. And as for those remaining cases, Bayer had this rather stern comment:
After nearly four years of litigation we are currently aware of fewer than 50 cases in the US that in our opinion hold a potential for settlement, although we cannot rule out the possibility that additional cases involving serious side effects from Lipobay/Baycol may come to our attention.
The Bayer statement, however, reportedly hinted at the possibility that there could be further settlements of Lipobay cases outside the U.S.
On May 10, 2005 Bayer divulged that it had paid $1.133 billion to settle 2,995 Baycol cases and Lipobay cases worldwide.
(Posted by: Tom Lamb)