Bayer's stock price drops 7% following U.S. court decision to review Monsanto case.

• On Wednesday, Bayer's German life sciences shares dropped over 7% following a U.S. court decision to review a lawsuit claiming that the company's Monsanto unit caused harm to individuals through exposure products.
• The German company is facing a lawsuit over alleged PCB exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center, and the Washington Supreme Court has agreed to review the case.

On Wednesday, Bayer's German life sciences shares dropped nearly 7%, following a U.S. court's decision to review a case accusing the company's Monsanto unit of causing harm to individuals through product exposure.

The Washington Supreme Court has agreed to review litigation against Bayer over the impact of PCBs exposure at the Sky Valley Education Center in Washington state, one of many related cases the company is fighting. An appeals court had previously overturned an $185 million award in the trial after finding flaws in the case in May, according to Reuters.

At 12:45 p.m. London time, Bayer shares were 6.76% lower, heading towards their worst performance since March and extending a year-to-date loss of 13%. The stock had fallen more than 30% last year due to challenges such as ongoing litigation over the Monsanto unit and high net debt.

The company stated on Wednesday that there was no basis for a different outcome on appeal, and it believed that the Washington Court of Appeals had identified three errors in the case, including that the testimony for the plaintiffs regarding PCB exposure lacked scientific validity.

In 1977, Monsanto ceased the production of industrial materials that are the subject of Bayer's claims.

Bayer acquired U.S. agrichemical-maker Monsanto in 2018.

The company is facing numerous legal battles in U.S. courts due to allegations of negative health effects, including cancer, resulting from exposure to Monsanto products, including Roundup weed killer.

Over 125,000 charges have been filed against the product in the U.S., with more than half of them resolved after a $10.9 billion settlement in 2020, according to Reuters.

In September, the company obtained a legal victory when the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled in its favor in a lawsuit alleging that Monsanto breached state law by not including a cancer warning on the Roundup label.