Boehringer Ingelheim reported robust sales in 2023, with a 10.3% increase in human pharma sales that was strongly driven by Jardiance (empagliflozin) and Ofev (nintedanib).

The German company announced that it had reached €20.8bn ($22.1bn) in human pharma sales in 2023, also achieving a 14.2% boost in research and development (R&D) investments that reached €5.8bn. Boehringer’s R&D investments accounted for 22.5% of net sales, as per a 16 April press release.

In the press release, Michael Schmelmer, a member of Boehringer’s board of managing directors with responsibility for finance and group functions, said, “We are committed to upholding these high investment levels to ensure that we bring innovation to patients as fast as possible across our entire pipeline. Our more than 53,500 employees know that every day that we gain can make a real difference in patients’ lives.”

Last year, Jardiance propelled the company’s growth with a 31% sales jump, landing at €7.4bn. Ofev also saw significant sales growth, rising by 12.8% to €3.5bn. Jardiance is an oral sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor that lowers blood glucose levels by reducing hepatic glucose production. Ofev works as a multikinase inhibitor to cause endothelial cell death.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Boehringer and Eli Lilly’s Jardiance to treat adults with chronic kidney disease in September 2023. Before this approval, the agency granted the therapy approval for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and heart failure. Ofev gained FDA approval for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis in October 2014. Following this, Boehringer secured FDA approval for Ofev for the treatment of systemic sclerosis-associated interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) in September 2019.

Boehringer and Lilly first joined a strategic alliance in 2011 to develop treatments for diabetes. In November 2019, the two companies updated their partnership to focus specifically on the development and commercialisation of Jardiance, Trajenta (linagliptin), and Basaglar (insulin glargine). Trajenta is an anti-hyperglycaemic agent for the treatment of type I diabetes and basaglar is a long-acting insulin that acts as an anti-diabetic agent.

Boehringer has declared plans to commence ten new Phase II and III studies in the upcoming 12-18 months in a bid to launch 25 new therapies by 2030. For this year, the company predicts slight growth in revenues, keeping in mind currency effects.

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