Bayer CEO Defiant on Monsanto as Roundup Cancer Suits Multiply

  • Baumann says Bayer ‘fully committed’ to integrating Monsanto
  • Appeal against damages award likely to take ‘a year or longer’

Photographer: Jasper Juinen/Bloomberg

Lock
This article is for subscribers only.

Bayer AG Chief Executive Officer Werner Baumann said the company is “fully committed” to integrating recent acquisition Monsanto Co. despite a $289 million jury award and rising wave of lawsuits seeking to link its weed-killer Roundup with cancer.

There is “an awful lot of excitement and enthusiasm” at Bayer about the $66 billion Monsanto purchase, Baumann said on a conference call Thursday. He reiterated that the company believes the jury decision is “wrong” and “inconsistent with the robust science-based conclusions of regulators and health authorities worldwide.”