Bayer shares down 7% after U.S. court says it will review Monsanto case

Logo and flags of Bayer AG are pictured outside a plant of the German pharmaceutical and chemical maker in Wuppertal, Germany.

Wolfgang Rattay | Reuters

Shares of German life sciences company Bayer fell nearly 7% on Wednesday, after a U.S. court said it would review a case alleging that exposure to products of the company’s Monsanto unit harmed individuals.

The Washington Supreme Court this week accepted a review of litigation against the German company over the impact of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center in Washington state, one of many related cases Bayer is fighting. Previously, an appeals court had overturned a $185 million award in the trial after finding flaws in the case in May, according to Reuters.

Bayer shares were 6.76% lower at 12:45 p.m. London time, putting the stock on course for its worst performance since March and extending a loss of 13% in the year to date. Shares had tumbled more than 30% last year amid challenges including ongoing litigation over the Monsanto unit and high net debt.

The company said in a statement Wednesday that there was “no basis for a different outcome on appeal,” and that it believed the Washington Court of Appeals’ decision had identified three errors in the case, including that testimony for the plaintiffs regarding PCB exposure lacked scientific validity.

Bayer argues the claims relate to industrial materials which Monsanto voluntarily ended manufacture of in 1977.

Bayer acquired U.S. agrichemical-maker Monsanto in 2018.

The deal has led to the company fighting myriad legal challenges in various U.S. courts over alleged negative health effects, including cancer, from exposure to Monsanto products including Roundup weed killer.

According to Reuters, around 125,000 charges have been brought against the product in the U.S., more than half of which had been resolved following a $10.9 billion settlement in 2020.

In September, the company secured a legal win when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia found in its favor in a claim that Monsanto violated state law by failing to add a cancer warning to the Roundup label.