Germany's Bayer shares rise on strong clot drug data

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Shares in Bayer AG (BAYG.DE) rose as much as 1.5 percent on Monday after a late stage study showed its experimental blood-clot drug worked better than a rival one.

Bayer shares were up 1.1 percent at 58.98 euros at 0445 GMT, compared with a 0.3 percent gain in the German blue-chip DAX .GDAXI index.

According to the study released on Saturday, rivaroxaban reduced the incidence of all types of venous thromboembolism (VTE) or blood clot risk 70 percent more than Sanofi-Aventis' (SASY.PA) enoxaparin group following hip replacement surgery.

The drug was jointly developed by Bayer and its partner Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N).

"Bayer has again published strong clinical Phase III trial data for rivaroxaban," said Martin Roediger, an analyst at Cheuvreux, in a report.

James Knight, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said the main prize remained stroke prevention, which could be worth up to 4 euros per share.

"Whilst this is further away (launch in 2011) and no efficacy data will be released, the safety data (from Record 2 study) should increase confidence in the drug for this indication," Knight said in a note.

Bayer expects annual peak sales potential of rivaroxaban to exceed 2 billion euros ($2.9 billion). The drug, which Bayer wants to market under the trade name Xarelto, is the most promising product in its pipeline.

Bayer and Johnson & Johnson will release trials from other rivaroxaban studies, including Record 2, later on Monday.

Rivaroxaban's current indications are for the prevention of VTE, treatment of deep-vein thrombosis, stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation and acute coronary syndrome.

Bayer has already submitted the first registration applications in Europe to market rivaroxaban for prevention of VTE following major orthopedic surgery.

(Reporting by Mantik Kusjanto; Editing by David Holmes)