Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly to reorganise diabetes alliance

Boehringer Ingelheim and Lilly have announced a restructuring of their long-standing diabetes alliance in order to reduce operational complexities in certain countries.

Under the revised terms, the companies will exclusively commercialise the respective molecules they brought to the alliance in all but 17 key countries from January 1st 2015 onwards.

However, they will continue their co-promotion work in these 17 key markets, which include the US, the UK, Ireland, Japan, China and most major EU nations, as these territories represent more than 90 percent of the alliance's anticipated market opportunity.

Dr Ulrich Drees, corporate senior vice-president of international project management at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: "By continuing our work under this revised model, our companies can better focus on the important task of delivering innovative solutions to patients."

To date, three new treatments for diabetes have been launched by the alliance – Trajenta, Jardiance and Jentadueto – while an insulin glargine product has been tentatively approved in the US and ratified in Europe.

The companies have been working together in this field since January 2011.