Boeh Ing's 1st half 2007 sales up 2.1%

German privately-owned drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim says that net sales for the first six months of the year were 5.41 billion euros ($7.37 billion), up 2.1% on those achieved during the comparable period of 2006. The company said that key products including; Spiriva (tiotropium), up 32.5% to 847.0 million euros; Micardis (telmisartan), which grew 17.8% to 563.0 million; and Sifrol/Mirapex (pramipexole), contributing revenues of 298.0 million, up 14.3%, had driven growth in the period.

Drug sales up 2.6%, income down 3.1%

Prescription drug sales, which represent around 80% of Boehringer's revenue, were up 2.6% to 4.31 billion euros, with operations in Asia, Australasia and Africa contributing 713.0 million euros, up 3.3%. The firm added, however, that the impact of generic competition, particularly for the rheumatoid arthritis agent Mobic (meloxicam), had caused sales in the USA to fall 3.7% to 1.93 billion euros. Biopharmaceuticals revenues in the period fell 11.5% to 196.0 million euros due to what the firm described as "expected extraordinary effects."