Boehringer Ingelheim opens plant in Vienna

Boehringer Ingelheim has opened a new biopharmaceutical production plant for manufacturing therapeutically active proteins, plasmid DNA and single chain antibodies at its site in Vienna, Austria.

The move doubles the capacity at Vienna, where the company's r&d centre for drug discovery in oncology is also located, and enables it to use two 6,000 litre fermenters for its biopharmaceutical production.

With a total investment of more than €80m, the expansion is Boehringer's largest single investment at its Austrian subsidiary and will create 200 new and highly qualified jobs.

'All our business segments successfully developed in their markets in 2004,' said Dr Hans-Juergen Leuchs, member of the board of managing directors and head of corporate board divisions biopharmaceuticals operations. 'The biopharmaceutical business achieved the highest growth rate, increasing net sales by 40%. In the last five years, sales in this area more than tripled, rising from €127m in 1999 to €392m in 2004.'

'The new plant is of strategic importance in our worldwide bio-business,' said Professor Rolf Werner, director corporate division biopharmaceuticals at Boehringer Ingelheim International.

'Our two biopharmaceutical manufacturing sites [the other is located at Biberach, Germany] allow us to provide the entire biotechnical process chain in early development and large-scale commercial manufacturing; from genetic engineering, formulation and downstream processing, to filling and finishing in state-of-the-art application systems, as well as global registration and marketing of biopharmaceutials. You might call it a 'one-stop-shop' for our customers.'

In 2004, Boehringer Ingelheim posted net sales of €8.2bn and spent nearly one fifth of net sales in its largest business segment, prescription medicines, on r&d.