Bayer Sues Chiron Over Diagnostic Acquisition

By HospiMedica staff writers
Posted on 11 Feb 2002

A lawsuit has been filed in a US federal court by a US subsidiary of Bayer Corp. (Leverkusen, Germany) against biotechnology company Chiron Corp. (Emeryville, CA, USA) over Bayer's acquisition of the Chiron Diagnostics Corp. for more than US$1 billion in 1998. The products of Chiron Diagnostics included blood tests and analyzers used in critical care. Following the acquisition, the unit became part of Bayer Diagnostics.

The suit contends that Chiron did not disclose regulatory, patent, and equipment problems to Bayer prior to the acquisition. Bayer also says that the Rapidpoint 400 blood analyzer of Chiron, launched shortly before the acquisition, gave false readings, had not been tested properly, and did not meet US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) standards. In addition, Bayer claims that Chiron did not provide details that should have been provided to the company about Japanese-employee pension liabilities, a patent license, and suspected violations of Mexican law. Chiron has not commented as yet on the suit.

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