Record Results for Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna

Vienna, April 6, 2017 –  The research-driven pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna (RCV) looks back at a very successful 2016 financial year: Operating performance (net sales, other operating income and balance sheet change) rose by 8.9% to EUR 1,243.1 million (2015: EUR 1,141.5 million). This figure includes revenues for affiliated companies, including sales from the biopharma business in Vienna. Total sales from the business areas of prescription medicines, over-the-counter products and animal health grew by 8.1% to EUR 821.5 million (2015: EUR 760.2 million). The number of employees rose by 2.0% to 3,470 (2015: 3,403), including 1,629 in Austria.

Developments were particularly positive in the core business with prescription medicines, which grew by 9.6%. Revenues for over-the-counter products rose by 0.8%. The business with veterinary drugs did very well, with strong growth of 8.9%. Biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing also posted double-digit growth.*

 “All of our business areas performed well in 2016. In particular, the prescription products made a significant contribution to our growth. Key factors were the new products introduced in past years, as well as our products established on the market,” said Philipp von Lattorff, managing director at Boehringer Ingelheim RCV. “We expect this positive trend to continue in 2017.”

Prescription medications as growth driver

In the core business of prescription medications, revenues across the region rose by 9.6% to EUR 641.7 million (2015: EUR 585.4 million). Poland, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Israel and the Adriatic countries showed very positive development, as did Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary.

Growth drivers were the new launches of recent years: the diabetes drugs Jardiance^® and Trajenta^®; the active ingredient Nintedanib, which is used in the treatment of lung cancer (Giotrif^©) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (Ovef^®); and Spiolto^® for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Developments were also very positive for established products such as Pradaxa^®, an anticoagulant, and Actilyse^®, which is used in the acute treatment of ischemic strokes. Pradaxa^® was the best-selling product, overtaking Spiriva^®, which had topped the list for years.

In Austria, revenues rose by 5.0% to EUR 83.5 million (2015: EUR 79.5 million). The mainstays were Pradaxa^®, Spiriva^® and the respiratory medication Berodual^®, along with the diabetes product portfolio.  

Stable trend for over-the-counter products

Despite a difficult market environment, the consumer healthcare sector also grew by 0.8%, to EUR 128.4 million (2015: EUR 127.4 million). “Particularly in light of the business swap with Sanofi, this is good news,” von Lattorff noted. In June 2016, Boehringer Ingelheim and Sanofi announced that Sanofi had exchanged its animal health business (Merial) for Boehringer Ingelheim’s consumer healthcare business. The transaction was successfully closed on January 1, 2017.

Good prospects for veterinary medicines

In the Animal Health business area, revenues were boosted by 8.9% over the previous year, to EUR 51.5 million (2015: EUR 47.3 million). The key products in this region were the pig vaccines Ingelvac Circoflex^® and Ingelvac Mycoflex^®, the Metacam^® product family, and Vetmedin^® for the treatment of canine congestive heart failure. The positive dynamic in this area is primarily attributable to developments in Russia, Poland and Switzerland.

The integration of Merial has created what is now the world’s second-largest player in the animal healthcare sector. “With the bundling of the additional product portfolio, as well as the existing technology platforms for vaccines and for anti-parasitic and pharmaceutical specialties, the combined company is very well positioned in the industry’s important growth segments,” says Hubert Papp, head of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health RCV. Papp expects that the integration of Merial will roughly double revenues in the region.

High investments in the expansion of biopharmaceutical production

At its site in Vienna, Boehringer Ingelheim develops and produces biopharmaceutical medicinal products based on its own research as well as for contract manufacturing customers. In 2016, preparations were underway for the construction of a new large-scale biopharmaceutical production plant and the associated infrastructure for active ingredients that are manufactured using cell cultures. With an investment of nearly EUR 700 million, Boehringer Ingelheim will create about 500 new jobs in Vienna by 2021.

“After a very successful year in 2016, in which we further expanded our market leadership in the development and production of microbial biopharmaceuticals with a 16% increase in sales, we are concentrating in 2017 on the addition and development of new innovative products as well as the construction of the industrial production facility for cell culture technology,” explains Christian Eckermann, head of Biopharma Austria.

 Vienna as a global cancer research center

Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to developing innovative therapies that provide as many cancer patients as possible with improved outcomes and better quality of life. The researchers work on therapeutic approaches that either attack the tumor cells directly or activate immune cells that then combat the cancer in turn.

“In 2016, our research team in Vienna again discovered several substances that could become new cancer medicines, which will be tested with lung cancer patients in the years ahead,” says Darryl McConnell, head of research at Boehringer Ingelheim RCV.

With annual research expenditures of EUR 200 million, Boehringer Ingelheim is the most research-intensive pharmaceutical company in Austria.

Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna

The Boehringer Ingelheim Regional Center Vienna is responsible for the Boehringer Ingelheim business with prescription medications, over-the-counter preparations and veterinary medicines in Austria as well as in more than 30 countries in Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Switzerland and Israel. In addition, all of the clinical research in the region is managed from Vienna. Vienna is the center of cancer research as well as where the Group’s biopharmaceutical research, development and production takes place. Boehringer Ingelheim also engages in basic research at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna. Boehringer Ingelheim thus ranks among the most research-intensive pharmaceutical companies in Austria. In fiscal year 2016, the Regional Center Vienna achieved total sales of EUR 821.5 million and employed 3,470 people in Central and Eastern Europe, including 1,629 in Austria.

* Total revenues for Boehringer Ingelheim RCV GmbH & Co KG do not include revenues from the biopharmaceuticals area.