German drug and chemical maker Bayer AG reported Tuesday a 58 percent jump in fourth quarter net profit despite difficult market conditions, and said it expected further growth at its health care and crop science divisions in 2009.

Pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that drugmaker Abbott Laboratories’ best-selling drug, Humira, infringes on a decade-old Bayer patent.

Pharmaceutical and chemical maker Bayer AG said Friday the company would increase its research and development spending above the current euro2.8 billion ($3.75 billion) and called on the government for tax breaks for such spending.

German medical conglomerate Bayer will pay $97.5 million to settle U.S. government allegations that it paid kickbacks to medical suppliers to boost sales of its diabetes products.

A coalition of environmental groups wants Bayer to dismantle stockpiles of chemicals it says are so deadly they present a safety risk to residents near a southwestern West Virginia plant that was the site of a deadly explosion in August.

Authorities say an explosion at a Bayer plant in West Virginia shook the area and sent at least one worker to the hospital with third-degree burns.

Bayer AG halted worldwide sales Monday of its anti-bleeding drug Trasylol at the request of U.S. and foreign health officials pending further analysis of a Canadian study that suggests it’s linked to a 50 percent higher risk of death than the other...