BI considers UK an important market in the future, despite Brexit.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s managing director and chairman of the board, Hubertus von Baumbach, has said that whilst he regrets Brexit, he can reassure patients in the UK that BI still regards it as an important market for new drug launches. He said: “We regret Brexit, but see it as an encouragement to fight even more strongly for Europe. We are firmly committed to Europe as a location for industry and research and we are planning investments here of more than three billion euros within the next five years. The UK in the past was a very important market for the company. There is no reason despite Brexit, why it should not be an important market in the future. However no one will be able to tell you how this will be achieved, they won’t know many of the details. We do anticipate the potential of a rich market, we start from the assumption that our drugs are going to be important in the UK market.”
A BI spokesperson said the UK’s Life Sciences Industrial Strategy is “a welcome sign at the UK government’s commitment to maintaining the health and vitality of the sector. The policy is continuing to secure significant investment from the sector despite the uncertainty caused by Brexit which indicates how well it is being received. The real test however is if the policy will be accompanied by effective improvement measures to address some of the access and uptake barriers that are still resulting in slower adoption of innovative medicines compared to other key markets. We do not feel the picture in this area is currently clear and it is perhaps too early to tell. For now we are keeping a close watching brief.”