Annual Report 2006 - Boehringer Ingelheim

On a biopharmaceutical compound’s way from
mind to market there are many hurdles to over-
come. The Biberach teams have successfully
addressed these challenges and many projects
have been advanced into late stages: three new
cell culture products in oncology and in respiratory
diseases have recently been transferred from
the small-scale process development level to the
large-scale production level. This is one step
further on our way to be able to finally apply for
international marketing authorisation.
Furthermore, Boehringer Ingelheim successfully
entered the Japanese oncology business by signing
a manufacturing agreement with a major Japanese
pharmaceutical company for a monoclonal antibody
in the field of oncology.
our customer orientation
In Biberach, Boehringer Ingelheim has also developed
a high expression system (bi-hex) which
uses mammalian cell cultures (CHO cells) to
obtain a high yield of the therapeutic protein of
interest. The bi-hex platform meets demands for
shorter development times of a new biological
medicine and follows the paradigm do-it-rightthe-first-time
to avoid unnecessary costs and
delays. The bi-hex system has a four-fold higher
yield from mammalian cells than the current
industrial standard.
Since most modern biopharmaceutical treatments
cannot be taken in tablet form, patients have to
inject the medication using a syringe. With prefilled
syringes the convenience for patients can be
increased usually resulting in a better compliance
How innovations are made
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