Bayer's Dual Legal Offensive and Apollo's €3 Billion Lifeline Reshape the Investment Case

Delaware court lets Bayer pursue COVID-19 vaccine patent claims against Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna as Apollo injects €3 billion to cut debt.

Bayer is fighting on multiple fronts these days, and this week brought measurable progress on at least two of them. A Delaware federal court has allowed the Leverkusen-based agricultural and pharmaceutical group to press ahead with its damages claim against the makers of the dominant COVID-19 vaccines, while a fresh capital injection from Apollo is set to accelerate the company's debt-reduction efforts.

The stock has been on a tear in 2026, climbing 32% year-to-date, though it slipped 3.7% on Tuesday to €48.86. Pre-market indications earlier in the session had shown the DAX-listed shares at €50.98, up 38% since January — a reminder of how volatile sentiment around the name remains.

A patent from the plant-biotech era becomes a vaccine weapon

At the heart of the Delaware case is US Patent 7,741,118, which Monsanto applied for in 1989 and was granted in 2010. The technology was originally designed to stabilize mRNA in crops to help plants fend off insect pests. Bayer contends that Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna employed precisely this method to preserve the genetic material in their COVID-19 shots.

The company points out that Pfizer and BioNTech have acknowledged using codon optimization in their mRNA production. Comirnaty, the vaccine developed by that pair, generated more than $93 billion in revenue.

Judge William Bryson rejected motions from Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna to dismiss the suit before trial. The defendants had argued that their manufacturing processes differ fundamentally from the patented method, and Moderna separately claimed the patent describes an unpatentable natural law. Bryson found those arguments insufficiently supported at this stage: the defendants had neither proven the patent invalid nor demonstrated that their products avoid infringing it.

The ruling — issued in a case Bayer filed in January 2026 — strengthens Bayer's hand in pursuing licensing claims, though it does not end the dispute. The litigation now moves into a deeper examination of the technical specifics.

A second front in New Jersey

Bayer is simultaneously pursuing a parallel action in New Jersey against Johnson & Johnson, again leaning on its patent portfolio and alleging that the US manufacturer used protected processes in producing its vaccine.

Together, the two cases could allow Bayer to extract substantial financial returns from historical research conducted by its Monsanto subsidiary. The Delaware decision improves the odds, but the path to a payout remains long.

Apollo's €3 billion buys Bayer room to maneuver

While the lawyers work, management is pressing ahead with a broader overhaul aimed at shrinking the company's debt load. Apollo will inject €3.0 billion in capital in exchange for a non-controlling minority stake in a newly created entity.

The move is designed to bring down liabilities noticeably. Bayer is targeting a reduction in net financial debt to between €29 billion and €30 billion for the full year. Its guidance for adjusted EBITDA remains unchanged at €9.6 billion to €10.1 billion.

Strengthening the balance sheet is meant to restore greater entrepreneurial flexibility. Alongside the cleanup, Bayer is investing in its pharmaceutical business to offset upcoming patent expirations.

Pipeline build-out continues

That effort got a boost over the summer. On June 17, Bayer completed the full acquisition of Perfuse Therapeutics in a deal worth up to $2.45 billion, structured as a $300 million upfront payment plus subsequent milestone payments.

The transaction gives Bayer worldwide rights to PER-001, an endothelin receptor antagonist currently in Phase II clinical trials for glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy.

Shareholder register shifts slightly

Behind the scenes, the ownership structure has also been moving. French asset manager Amundi trimmed its stake in the company, with its voting rights falling to 2.90% as of September 23, down from 3.04% previously. Such adjustments just below regulatory disclosure thresholds are routine in institutional portfolio management. For market participants, the operational realignment and financial consolidation remain the main story.

Glyphosate litigation still unresolved

On the legal side closer to home, Bayer is trying to contain the risks surrounding its glyphosate herbicide in the US. Roughly two weeks ago, a Missouri court held a hearing on the approval of a proposed class-action settlement. A judicial decision is still pending.

The company did receive a tailwind on June 25, when the US Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in its favor in the Durnell case. The justices held that federal law preempts state-level claims when a regulatory agency has established a product's safety.