As expected, the net sales of the pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim declined in local currency terms (-5.1%) in the first half of 2010. Consolidation in euros produced a fall of –2.8%, due to more favourable currency effects, with total net sales of EUR 6,207 million compared to EUR 6,388 million in the first half of the previous year.
Lower net sales are in the main attributed to the known patent expiries on medicines in the USA, as well as the ending of cooperation agreements. Boehringer Ingelheim already announced this last year.
"The decline in Human Pharmaceuticals business was primarily caused by the expected loss of patent protection for the prostate medicine FLOMAX®, the Parkinson's disease treatment SIFROL® and the initial generic competition for blood pressure lowering CATAPRESAN® TTS in the USA, as well as the ending of the cooperation agreement with Eli Lilly for duloxetine (CYMBALTA®/XERISTAR®)," said Professor Andreas Barner, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors.
"The Consumer Health Care (CHC) business was not able to achieve the results of the previous year, due to a sharply declining market in Japan and a less pronounced season for colds in Europe. The still pleasing growth in our innovative prescription medicines in our Human Pharmaceuticals business and in Animal Health, most of all in the vaccination segment, could not wholly offset this development."
Overall, net sales in Prescription Medicines amounted to EUR 4,845 million during the first half that is to say EUR 262 million less than in the previous year. Net sales in the CHC business amounted to EUR 605 million and was thereby 4.2% less than in the previous year.
Operating income was below the 2009 level, as expected. This was mainly caused by higher investment in Research and Development, negative effects from patent expiries and government intervention in prescription medicine pricing. The Animal Health business achieved exceptionally strong growth of +56.2 % in local currency terms (+61.0% in euro terms) and net sales of EUR 461 million. This was mainly due to the important growth drivers in the vaccines business, primarily the innovative swine vaccine INGELVAC CIRCOFLEX®, as well as the successful integration of the animal health business taken over from Fort Dodge in the USA at the end of 2009.
The results of our own Research and Development were also gratifying compared to the first half of the previous year. With growth of around 20%, distinctly more was invested. The registration process is underway in the USA, Europe and additional countries for the novel, oral direct thrombin inhibitor PRADAXA® (dabigatran etexilate) in the indication "stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation". At the end of July, Boehringer Ingelheim received a positive recommendation from the European registration authorities for the approval of TWYNSTA®, the new combination tablet for the treatment of high blood pressure. The diabetes type-2 substance linagliptin has also shown good results in phase III clinical studies. The initial market launches are planned for 2011. And the development substances in the therapy area oncology have achieved further very promising progress in clinical programmes (phase II and phase III).
In the first half, the personnel capacity of the international group of companies increased slightly by 1.5% (+586 posts) to 40,529 employees worldwide. For Boehringer Ingelheim, 2010 is the year of the company's 125th jubilee, a year of transition to a new growth phase. Against a background of patent expiries, preparations for the launches of new medicines and regulatory changes to the market, the growth rates of the previous year cannot be achieved. With new medicines and a still well-filled substance pipeline, Boehringer Ingelheim will, nevertheless, move into a new growth phase. For 2011, a high single-digit growth rate is already expected.
About Boehringer Ingelheim
The Boehringer Ingelheim group is one of the world's 20 leading pharmaceutical companies. Headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, it operates globally with 142 affiliates in 50 countries and more than 41,500 employees. Since it was founded in 1885, the family-owned company has been committed to researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing novel products of high therapeutic value for human and veterinary medicine.
In 2009, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of 12.7 billion euro while spending 21% of net sales in its largest business segment Prescription Medicines on research and development.