Boehringer Ingelheim

1885–1999

The company supplied the most potent ingredient of Agent Orange.[8]

• 1885: Albert Boehringer buys a small tartar factory in Ingelheim am Rhein; work begins on 1 August.[5]
• 1886: The factory commences production of tartaric acid for use in the food industry (e.g. in baking powder and carbonated beverages).
• 1893: Albert Boehringer renames the company C. H. Boehringer Sohn (CHBS) after his father, Christoph Heinrich Boehringer.[6]
• 1893: While experimenting with the production of citric acid, lactic acid is formed. Albert Boehringer develops this process, with the intention of producing lactic acid on a larger scale.
• 1895: Lactic acid is produced on an industrial scale, and is successful commercially.
• 1917: Professor Heinrich Otto Wieland, chemist, future Nobel Prize winner and cousin of Albert Boehringer, sets up the company's research department.
• 1928: Albert Boehringer purchases Dr. Karl Thomae, a company based in Winnenden near Stuttgart.[7]
• 1946: Dr. Karl Thomae GmbH is re-opened in Biberach an der Riss with a staff of 70 people.
• 1954: The company hires former Nazi Fritz Fischer after he is released from jail. Fischer was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.

• 1955: The Animal Health division is established as the company acquires Pfizer's veterinary programme.
• 1966: A subsidiary company named Boehringer Ingelheim Hellas was founded and the company started business in Greece. A new factory was built close to Athens at Koropi
• 1971: The foreign subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc is founded in Ridgefield, Connecticut (USA). This site is soon expanded, and becomes the company's North American research centre.
• 1985: The Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) is established in Vienna through a collaboration with Genentech; it opens in 1988.
• 1986: The biotechnological centre in Biberach begins production of biopharmaceuticals from cell cultures.[9]
• 1998: The merging of Boehringer Ingelheim KG and Dr. Karl Thomae GmbH founds Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG.

2000–2016

In 2004, the company acquired STEAG microParts GmbH.[10] In December of the same year the company announced the acquisition of the outstanding shares of Boehringer Ingelheim Shionogi Vetmedica.[11]

In June 2008, the company announced its intention to acquire Actimis Pharmaceuticals for $515 million, depending on the performance of Actimis' leading asthma compound AP768.[12]

In 2009, through its US subsidiary, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc., acquired a significant portion of the Fort Dodge Animal Health business from Pfizer.[13]

In 2010, BI, through its Boehringer Ingelheim Japan Investment GK subsidiary, acquired all outstanding shares of SSP CO., Ltd, with Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co., Ltd already holding 60.2% of SSP CO's shares.[14]

In August 2012, the company acquired FX125L and the somatotaxin programme from Funxional Therapeutics for an undisclosed sum.[15]

In May 2015, the company acquired the investigational drug PXS4728A from Pharmaxis’.[16] In July, the company sold its Roxane business to Hikma Pharmaceuticals Plc for $2.65 billion ($1.18 billion in cash and issue 40 million new Hikma shares). The company also agreed to make cash payments of up to $125 million based on performance milestones.[17][18] On the same day the company announced it would partner with Hanmi Pharmaceutical to develop and commercialise HM61713, a third generation treatment for EGFR mutation-positive lung cancer.[19] Boehringer also terminated its collaboration with Vitae Pharmaceuticals on a new BACE program for Alzheimer's.[20]

The company sold the rights to Faldaprevir, a HCV protease inhibitor to Trek Therapeutics.[21]

In July 2016, the company sold the commercialisation rights to BI 655066 (Risankizumab), to AbbVie for $595 million upfront as well as undisclosed milestone payments and royalties. BI 655066 is a drug in late-stage testing for psoriasis, and in earlier testing for Crohn's disease, psoriatic arthritis and asthma.[22] In September of the same year the company announced it would acquire ViraTherapeutics for €210 million ($230 million[23]), a developer of oncolytic virus therapies, dependent on the success of Phase I trials.[24][25]

2016 – Sanofi asset swap

In June 2016, the company announced it had struck an asset-swap deal with Sanofi, Boehringer would sell its consumer health division (valuing it at €6.7 billion) and €4.7 billion in cash, whilst acquiring the Merial animal health division (valuing it at €11.4 billion / $12.4 billion). The deal could mean that Boehringer is now one of the animal healthcare global leaders.[26] In September of the same year, Amgen announced it would purchase the rights to Boehringer Ingelheims Phase I bispecific T-cell engager compound (BI 836909, now AMG 420) for use in the treatment of multiple myeloma.[27] As part of the asset swap, Boehringer and Merial sold a number of assets to Ceva Santé Animale - namely some animal health vaccines and pharmaceuticals from the Merial portfolio for swine, bovine and companion animals, as well as some intellectual property, manufacturing processes and R&D activities.[28][29] In October 2016 the company sold its US pet vaccines business and a manufacturing plant for $885 million, to Eli Lilly's Elanco Animal Health division.[30]

2018–onwards

In April 2018, the company announced that it would launch an immuno-oncology partnership with OSE Immunotherapeutics worth up-to-$1.4 billion, focussing on developing OSE's late-preclinical-stage candidate OSE-172, a checkpoint inhibitor antibody designed to treat solid tumors.[31] In the same month Boehringer announced a partnership with Topas Therapeutics and their virus-based vectors.[32] In mid-September the company exercised its option to acquire viral cancer therapy developer, ViraTherapeutics, for €210 million ($245 million).[33]

In March 2019, Boehringer announced it would acquire ICD Therapeutics.[34] In July, subsidiary company Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced it had acquired Amal Therapeutics SA, boostings the business' focus on cancer immunotherapy and vaccine treatments.[35]

In May 2020, the business announced it would acquire Northern Biologics Inc. which focuses on therapeutic antibodies targeting tumours.[36] In June, the business announced it would sell off part of its stake in London-listed Hikma Pharmaceuticals (28 million out of a 40 million share holding) for around $800 million.[37] In July, the company announced it would acquire Global Stem cell Technology (GST), boosting its animal health business.[38] In December, Boehringer announced it would acquire Labor Dr. Merk & Kollegen, boosting its immuno-oncology therapy range including Vesicular Stomatitis Virus and cancer vaccines platforms[39] and Swiss-based NBE Therapeutics, adding drug candidates including a treatment being used in early trials against triple-negative breast cancer and lung cancer, for $1.5 billion.[40][41]

In June 2020, Boehringer and G1 Therapeutics announced a co-promotion agreement for trilaciclib (Cosela), a CDK4/6 inhibitor designed to prevent chemotherapy-induced myelosuppression.[42] The agreement targets small cell lung cancer, will initially run for three years, and covers the United States and Puerto Rico.[43]

In September 2021, the company announced it would acquire Abexxa Biologics, boosting its cancer immunotherapy research.[44]

In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Madrid Yearly Review ranked Boehringer's number of marks applications filled under the Madrid System as 4th in the world, with 118 trademarks applications submitted during 2023.[45]

Closure of Bedford plant

In 2011, Ben Venue Laboratories in Bedford, Ohio, a division of Boehringer Ingelheim, voluntarily shut down after a U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspectors' report that found the plant had rusty tools, mold, and a barrel of 'unknown liquid', later found to be urine.[48][49] The company invested US$300 million to upgrade the drug manufacturing plant, and limited production resumed in October 2012.[49] However, on 3 October 2013, Ben Venue announced that it would be ceasing production by the end of 2013 due to being unable to "return to sustainable production."[50]

Key lines

Prescription Medicines:

Consumer Health Care (sold to Sanofi):

Animal Health: Also in companion animal portfolio: Purevax feline vaccines, Recombitek canine vaccine, Imrab rabies vaccine, NexGard (afoxolaner), NexGard Spectra (afoxolaner/milbemycin oxime), NexGard Combo (esafoxolaner/eprinomectin/praziquantel), Heartgard-30 Plus (ivermectin/pyrantel pamoate), Immiticide (melarsomine), Senvelgo (velagliflozin)

• Actilyse (alteplase)
• Aggrenox (dipyridamole / acetylsalicylic acid)
• Alna / Flomax (tamsulosin) [sold to Sanofi]
• Aptivus (tipranavir)
• Berodual (ipratropium bromide / fenoterol)
• Combivent (ipratropium bromide / salbutamol)
• Cosela (trilaciclib)
• Gilotrif / Giotrif (afatinib)
• Jardiance (empagliflozin)
• Jentadueto / TrajentaDuo (linagliptin / metformin)
• Metalyse (tenecteplase)
• Micardis (telmisartan)
• Micardis Plus / Micardis HCT (telmisartan / hydrochlorothiazide)
• Mirapex / Sifrol (pramipexole)
• Ofev / Vargatef (Nintedanib)
• Mobic / Movalis (meloxicam)
• Pradaxa (dabigatran etexilate)
• Spiriva (tiotropium bromide)
• Trajenta / Tradjenta (linagliptin)
• Twynsta (telmisartan / amlodipine)
• Viramune (nevirapine)

• Antistax (red vine leaf extract)
• Bisolvon (bromhexine)
• Buscopan / Buscapina (hyoscine butylbromide)
• Dulcolax (bisacodyl)
• Zantac (ranitidine)—75 and 150 mg tablets; 300 mg tablets, syrup and solution for injection are manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline
• Mucoangin / Mucosolvan (ambroxol)
• Pharmaton (standardized ginseng extract, vitamins, minerals, trace elements)
• Silomat / Bisoltussin / Bisolvon Antitussive (dextromethorphan)
• Thomapyrin (acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol, caffeine)
• BoxaGrippal (ibuprofen/pseudoephedrine)

• CircoFLEX (porcine circovirus vaccine type 2, killed Baculovirus vector)
• Duramune (a line of pet vaccines)- sold to Elanco U.S.; discontinued in Canada
• Metacam (meloxicam)
• MycoFLEX (Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae bacterin)
• Vetmedin (pimobendan)
• Pexion (imepitoin)

Product pipeline

Boehringer Ingelheim's product pipeline targets lung disease, cancer, and hepatitis C.[56]

Litigation

In October 2012 Boehringer Ingelheim settled a "qui tam" (whistleblower) case with the U.S. government for $95 million alleging "off-label" marketing of the drugs Aggrenox, Atrovent, Combivent, and Micardis for uses that weren't approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and were not covered by federal health care programs.[58]

In August 2012, Pradaxa claims filed in the federal court were consolidated in a multi-district litigation in the Southern District of Illinois before Chief Judge David R. Herndon. On 28 May 2014, a $650 million settlement was announced on behalf of approximately 3,900 claimants who were injured by the drug Pradaxa made by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. The drug is alleged to cause severe bleeding events and/or hemorrhaging to those who were taking the drug.[59]

In October 2023 Boehringer Ingelheim was ordered to pay a 10 million Euro fine for illegal price fixing that had gone on globally over a period of nearly fifteen years.[60][61][62] Boehringer bears the largest share of an antitrust fine totaling € 13.4 million.[60][63] Anyone affected by its anti-competitive behavior may claim damages, competition regulators stressed.[63]