Consumer Health

Market

The global consumer health market experienced currency-adjusted growth of around 3%¹ in 2025, reflecting a slower rate of expansion compared with 2024 (+5%). Pricing remained the main driver of growth, albeit with more moderate impacts compared to prior years, while volumes stabilized overall. Market expansion was seen in Europe/Middle East/Africa and Latin America, while macroeconomic conditions resulted in declines in the United States and China. All categories experienced growth, while the seasonal category allergy, cough and cold only saw moderate gains.

Sales

Sales at Consumer Health came in at €5,802 million in 2025, and were therefore in line with the prior-year level (Fx & portfolio adj. –0.1%) as the division navigated a challenging environment in key markets in North America and Asia/Pacific. We registered gains in the Digestive Health, Dermatology and Pain & Cardio categories, but posted declines at Nutritionals and Allergy & Cold. The drop in sales at Allergy & Cold was primarily attributable to a soft allergy season in North America and lower sales of cough and cold products in Latin America.

• Sales in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region rose by 3.2% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €2,283 million. The Dermatology category saw an increase in sales that was primarily driven by Priorin™ and Bepanthen™. Sales at Digestive Health continued to rise following a strong prior year, with growth primarily fueled by gains for Iberogast™ and Talcid™. Our Nutritionals business also posted higher sales, mainly thanks to Supradyn™ and Elevit™. In addition, the acquisition of Natsana GmbH, Germany, had a positive impact on absolute sales in this category, with these sales contributions accounted for as a portfolio effect.

• Sales in North America decreased by 2.0% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €1,992 million amid a challenging market environment. Business was down at Nutritionals, partly due to the winding down of the US direct-to-consumer business under the Care/of brand in the prior year. We also posted a decline in sales in the allergy business that was largely attributable to a soft season. In addition, sales in the Pain & Cardio category decreased slightly against the prior year. By contrast, we recorded a strong increase in sales in the Digestive Health category, primarily thanks to significant gains for MiraLAX™ that were partly driven by the launch of MiraFAST™.

• Sales in Asia/Pacific declined by 5.3% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €828 million. The division navigated a weak market environment in China, encountering significant headwinds that mainly impacted the Nutritionals business. We also registered a decline in sales in the Digestive Health category. By contrast, sales at Dermatology were in line with the strong prior year, while sales of our allergy products increased, primarily driven by gains for Claritin™ that were partly attributable to product line extensions.

• Sales in Latin America increased by 2.6% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €699 million, with gains at Pain & Cardio and Nutritionals more than offsetting declines at Allergy & Cold and Digestive Health. Growth at Pain & Cardio was driven by Actron™, while the increase in sales at Nutritionals was fueled by Redoxon™ and Supradyn™.

Earnings

EBITDA before special items declined by 1.8% to €1,341 million in 2025 (2024: €1,366 million). Earnings were impacted by a negative currency effect of €73 million (2024: €46 million) that the division was able to partially offset thanks to its continuous cost and price management efforts. Investments in marketing our products were at the prior-year level, while overall selling expenses were down. The EBITDA margin before special items came in at 23.1%, and was therefore 0.2 percentage points below the prior-year level.

EBIT amounted to €912 million (2024: €1,028 million) after special charges of €49 million (2024: net special gains of €59 million) relating to restructuring.

Fourth quarter of 2025

Sales

Sales at Consumer Health declined by 4.6% (Fx & portfolio adj.) to €1,461 million in the fourth quarter. We recorded a decline in sales at Allergy & Cold that was primarily attributable to a soft cold season in North America. Sales also decreased at Nutritionals, Dermatology and Pain & Cardio, with business mainly down in Asia/Pacific amid a market environment that remained challenging. By contrast, we posted an increase in sales at Digestive Health that was primarily driven by significant gains in Europe and North America.

Earnings

EBITDA before special items declined by 15.5% to €305 million in the fourth quarter of 2025 (Q4 2024: €361 million). Earnings were mainly impacted by the decline in sales as well as a negative currency effect of €24 million (Q4 2024: positive currency effect of €10 million). We also registered higher investments in marketing our products as well as an increase in the cost of goods sold. However, we were able to partially offset these effects thanks to our continuous cost and price management efforts as well as higher income from the sale of minor, nonstrategic brands. The EBITDA margin before special items declined by 2.1 percentage points to 20.9%.

EBIT at Consumer Health amounted to €184 million (Q4 2024: €442 million) after special charges of €25 million (Q4 2024: net special gains of €184 million) relating to restructuring.

1 Source: Bayer’s estimate (as of November 2025), taking into account external sources