Boehringer cuts R&D budget to €11bn to focus on collaborations
pharmafile | November 13, 2015 | News story | Medical Communications, Research and Development | Boehringer Ingelheim
Boehringer Ingelheim has launched its new research and development strategy, committing €11 billion to R&D over the next five years.
However the investment represents a yearly average of €2.2 billion; a 17% drop on the €2.7 billion invested last year, as the company turns its attention to collaborations.
Announcing the plan at its Berlin R&D press conference, Boehringer said €5 billion would be spent on preclinical R&D, with €1.5 billion of this planned for collaborations with external partners. The German firm claims that the real-terms cut would be a more efficient and effective use of its resources and prepare it for “chances and challenges in the pharmaceutical market.”
The German company says it aims to develop the next generation of medical breakthroughs and maintain its ‘excellent competitive position’, and that the external collaborations were its way of embracing ‘open innovation’.
Boehringer claims the increased focus on collaborations with external partners, while still maintaining its strong internal R&D capabilities, will allow it to build in its core therapeutic areas, and represents its embracing the trend of closer ties between industry and academia.
Dr Michel Pairet, senior corporate vice president of research and non-clinical development at Boehringer Ingelheim, comments: “The new strategy will foster our external collaboration efforts by enabling us to be faster and more flexible. This is of essence for research beyond the borders of our current focus areas, where we explore emerging science, new indications and new technology to expand opportunities.”
Boehringer announced several new collaborations with leading research partners, including four aimed at tackling inflammatory bowel disease, at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Massachusetts General Hospital, Scripps Research Institute and Weill Cornell Medicine.
“With eleven new launches in 2014 and 2015, our R&D organisation is an example of Boehringer Ingelheim’s outstanding capability in this field,” says Professor Andreas Barner, chairman of the board of managing directors of Boehringer Ingelheim. “The new programme and strategy reflect our corporate philosophy of long-term, sustainable growth. They will enable us to continue our excellent track record of bringing therapeutic innovations with high value for patients to the market.”
Professor Barner continues: “This is another decisive step to position Boehringer Ingelheim for long-term growth. We are looking forward to addressing unresolved challenges in immunology, respiratory and cardiometabolic medicine, as well as in oncology, in diseases of the central nervous system and beyond.”
UPDATE (19/11/15): A Boehringer R&D spokesman noted that the high number of Phase III registration trials conducted in the last two years had somewhat skewed the €2.7 billion to €2.2 billion statistic, as well as that such expenses as animal health development and CHC were not included in the 2014 comparator figure.
He claimed the equivalent 2014 figure was €2.333 (higher due to the trial expenses) and that the €11 billion figure in fact represented the highest five-year R&D spend in Boehringer’s history.
Joel Levy
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