Annual Report 2005 - Boehringer Ingelheim

Our successful business activities go hand in
hand with increasing effectiveness in cost
management through all areas of the corporation.
Cost-effective pharmaceutical manufacture is
one of the key factors in attracting new partners
for third-party manufacture.
Patented drugs or drugs with exclusivity con-
tinue to drive our growth. Our product pipeline
includes a number of promising substances
in major indication areas such as respiratory,
cardiovascular and inflammatory diseases,
virology, urology and CNS. In addition, good
progress was made with development candidates
in oncology, metabolism and immunology. Our
areas of research are divided across the four main
research sites in Germany (Biberach), Austria
(Vienna), the USA (Ridgefield) and Canada
(Laval), in line with their defined key areas.
In addition, our activities and projects are
supported by strategic alliances and in-licensing
of new technologies. In 2005, we moved various
candidates into predevelopment and develop-
ment with promising prospects for the future.
In a continued move to support this strong
growth, we took the opportunity to increase our
manpower by 5 % to total 37,400 employees in
the past year, mainly in the USA, Germany and
Spain.
Boehringer Ingelheim A n n u A l R e p o R t 2 0 0 5
Outlook
The gratifying development of our business in
2005 reflects the strengths of our company.
However, yesterday’s successes are today’s history
and the way ahead is uphill. The pharmapolitical
measures in a number of important countries,
starting with Germany, pose an increasing
barrier to innovation and to patient’s access to
new and better therapies. Developing medicines
is a lengthy, costly and risky process. Short patent
lifetimes, frequent regulatory interventions,
rigorous price containment measures and fierce
competition make it all the more difficult to
guarantee the financial basis required for R&D.
We once again expect to grow faster than the
pharmaceutical market in 2006, although we are
unlikely to match the growth rates posted in
2005. mobic®, for example, is expected to face
competition of the first generic versions in the
USA in 2006. However, our product portfolio
contains numerous branded medicines with
medium to long-term patent protection which
still have significant potential for growth.
We are also pleased to have a number of interest-
ing drug candidates for various indications
in our promising pipeline. All in all, Boehringer
Ingelheim is optimistic about the future.
Dr Alessandro Banchi Dr Andreas Barner Dr Hans-Jürgen Leuchs
Prof. Marbod Muff