Annual Report 2006 - Boehringer Ingelheim

Vienna, Austria
Oncology
Boehringer Ingelheim’s dedicated drug discovery
center for innovative cancer medicines is located
in Vienna. Oncology was created as a new thera-
peutic area at Boehringer Ingelheim in response
to the substantial unmet medical needs of cancer
patients and the tremendous advances in under-
standing cancer biology, fuelled by the human
genome project, with new insights into cancer
genes and the biochemical signalling pathways
gone awry in malignant cells.
Research in Vienna reveals that scientific excellence
and the ambition to discover and develop
new medicines are not limited by national borders:
the more than 200 researchers in Boehringer
Ingelheim’s laboratories come from more than a
dozen countries worldwide. Together with the
global development center in Biberach and colleagues
in Medical, the discovery teams are committed
to new treatment choices for patients (with
locally advanced or metastatic cancers).
The oncology research campus is part of the
Regional Center Vienna, which has business
responsibility for Austria and twenty-nine
countries in Central and Eastern Europe. From
2000 to 2007, a highly modern, state-of-the-art
research infrastructure has been built up at the
Regional Center. Only recently, a new biology
research building has been opened, which
complements the chemistry research building
inaugurated in 2002. Within a very short time-
span, innovative drug candidates from in-house
research – both small-molecule chemicals and
human monoclonal antibodies – have been
advanced into development, including three
compounds currently in phase II clinical trials.
Boehringer Ingelheim A n n u A l R e p o R t 2 0 0 6
Of the nearly 25 million people diagnosed with malignant
cancers worldwide, more than half can be treated today
with long-lasting benefit; however, “close to seven million
cancer deaths per year are simply not acceptable,” explains
Dr Wolfgang Rettig, Senior Vice-President Research in Vienna.
“Available treatment options, particularly surgical inter-
ventions, are least promising when the cancer has spread to
distant organs, and at this stage of the disease the need for
more effective, targeted therapies with fewer side effects
becomes plainly visible. One in every three women and one
in every two men will be diagnosed with a malignant cancer
during their lifetimes, and this is a challenge we take very
personally,” Dr Rettig states.
The time for finding better cancer medicines has never been
better for Boehringer Ingelheim, since the company can build
on a very strong scientific foundation provided by academic
research centers worldwide. “Nevertheless, the road ahead is
long and arduous,” Dr Rettig forecasts. Boehringer Ingelheim
has entered the field of oncology with the persistence
and long-term vision possible for a family-owned group
of companies, and the outlook for patients is therefore
promising. Already, some cancer types are being treated
very effectively with targeted drugs, although not all
patients benefit equally. According to Dr Rettig: “With many
additional drugs in development, this trend will improve,
and we will continue to change the face of cancer, turning it
into a chronic disease with improved quality of life, one
step at a time.”
Dr Wolfgang Rettig,
Senior Vice-President
Research, Vienna