Boeringer Ingelheim leads pharm market in growth

German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim has posted good growth results for 2007, the eighth consecutive year it has done so.

Its turnover grew by eight per cent and income after tax was calculated as 1.8 billion euros (1.44 billion pounds), an increase of 4.8 per cent on the previous year.

In addition, the company took on 1,400 new employees worldwide, making its workforce at around 39,800, it said.

Dr Alessandro Banchi, chairman of the board of managing directors and head of the corporate board division of pharma marketing and sales, said: “Our products are benefiting patients, our product pipeline is well equipped and our workforce is highly motivated.”

The company noted that it had faced certain challenges, such as the strength of the euro against the US dollar and the Japanese yen, plus a steep decline in net sales for its drug Mobic following the end of the patent in 2006.

Its figures for 2006 indicated worldwide sales of 10.6 billion euros an 11 per cent increase on 2005.