New tablet production facility in Ingelheim: Centerpiece for global launches
Boehringer Ingelheim held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new production facility for innovative drugs. This new Solids Launch facility will focus on development activities for drugs in tablet form and manufacture them for worldwide market launches. The research-driven pharmaceutical company is therefore investing 85 million euros in Ingelheim, focusing on modern and flexible production, to be even better positioned for marketing new, innovative drugs.
Starting in 2020, 75 employees will develop new production methods for tablet preparations and manufacture these centrally for all global market launches. In return, the production of older, easier-to-manufacture drugs has been gradually relocated to different countries in the worldwide manufacturing network since 2016, allowing greater focus on the more demanding tasks of chemical production. The Solids Launch facility is an important piece of the puzzle, allowing Boehringer Ingelheim to keep the entire value-added chain in Germany over the long term, from research right through to production.
“In Ingelheim, we are thoroughly committed to investing in technologies and processes with high added value. This means that we are not only establishing the centerpiece for global market launches of pharmaceutical innovations here, but also that we will continue to manufacture drugs that require highly complex production technologies,” explained Stefan Rinn, Country Manager for Germany.
Malu Dreyer, Minister President of Rhineland-Palatinate, underscored the importance of future-oriented technologies that significantly add value for the region as a business hub. On the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony, she thanked Boehringer Ingelheim for its commitment to doing business in Rhineland-Palatinate, where Boehringer Ingelheim is an icon of progress, innovation, and sustainable development. The company creates valuable jobs and training positions. “Here, smart people are making exceptional contributions to improving the health and quality of life of patients. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry generates the highest turnover in Rhineland-Palatinate and is therefore an important engine for growth.”
The state supports companies, among other things, with measures to ensure specialist staff. The “oval table,” unique to this regional state government, involves chambers of trade and business associations to implement a strategy that is backed by professionals and strengthened through apprenticeships. Furthermore, the region wants to get more children and young people excited about science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through its STEM initiative. “Our children are the researchers of tomorrow,” says Minister President Dreyer.
Between 2016 and 2017, Boehringer Ingelheim constructed a production facility in Ingelheim in record time, at a cost of 34 million euros—known as the “diabetes factory,” for innovative antidiabetic agents. As of 2020, the production of such preparations is to be relocated to other countries, such as Mexico and Greece. The facility was designed for flexibility and serves as a part of the new production strategy to prepare for product launches as well as be able to react promptly to market changes and develop products internally.
Country Manager Stefan Rinn continued, “Germany will continue to be by far the largest production site in the Boehringer Ingelheim group of companies, and Ingelheim will remain one of the largest production sites in the world within the pharmaceutical industry as a whole.”