Germany's Bayer will continue its expansion into the U.S. despite its November announcement that its promising blood thinner candidate failed to demonstrate superiority over a competing medicine, the drugmaker's pharmaceuticals head Stefan Oelrich said on Monday. Bayer's experimental anticoagulant asundexian could still be a blockbuster if its second trial for stroke prevention reads out positively, Oelrich told Reuters at the JPMorgan health conference in San Francisco. He said there is also strong opportunity in the U.S. for the company's cardiovascular and menopause symptom relief treatments, including its experimental elinzanetant, which Bayer said on Sunday eased hot flashes and improved sleep in late-stage trials.