Boehringer cuts ribbon on €70m addition to Shanghai plant
pharmafile | September 27, 2013 | News story | Manufacturing and Production, Sales and Marketing | Boehringer, China, Shanghai
Boehringer Ingelheim has officially opened the €70 million expansion of its facility in Zhangjiang, China, that is designed to triple the unit’s output by 2018.
The expansion will help Boehringer meet rising demand for medicines in China, said the firm, and includes a new packaging centre, quality control laboratories and an automated warehousing and logistics facility.
The number of workers employed by Boehringer at the Zhangjiang High-Tech Park in Shanghai will be increased to around 350 from the current level of around 240, according to Boehringer’s biopharma operations head Dr Wolfgang Baiker.
“We will invest further into the site in 2014 to set up a development lab for biopharmaceuticals,” he said, adding that the ultimate aim is to make the Shanghai plant “a competitive regional supply site in Boehringer Ingelheim’s global operations network”.
Boehringer first announced the expansion programme for Zhangjiang, which focusses mainly on solid oral dosage forms and liquids, at the end of 2011. When fully completed, it will boost capacity at the site to more than 150 million packages in 2016 and 220 million in 2018.
The facility makes its several of the drugmaker’s own products including Micardis (telmisartan) for high blood pressure, recently approved anticoagulant Pradaxa (dabigatran) and Spiriva (tiotropium) for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
Earlier this year Boehringer said it would invest €35 million in its commercial-scale product unit at Pudong, Shanghai, that will focus on biopharmaceutical production in cell culture and related R&D activities.
The Pudong plant is being set up as a joint venture with Zhangjiang Biotech & Pharmaceutical Base Development Co (ZJ Base) and is due to come online in 2016.
“All these activities show Boehringer Ingelheim’s commitment to supporting innovation and growing our business further in China – one of the most important pharma markets in the world,” said Baiker.
Last year, Boehringer reported Chinese sales of €358 million, up 32% on 2011, which makes it the 15th-largest drugmaker in the country. The company claims to be one of only three top 20 multinational pharma companies in China to increase its market share in 2012.
Phil Taylor
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