R&D continues to be key for Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim

German, privately-owned drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim reiterated the importance of research during its annual conference at its base in the south west of the country. Boehringer chairman Alessandro Banchi said that the firm's R&D expenditure, which increased 16% in 2006 to 1.57 billion euros ($2.10 billion), coupled with a 3% increase in the number of employees, had created a structure in which innovative drug development could thrive.

Healthy Phase II drug pipeline

Dr Banchi explained that Boehringer's product pipeline had seen considerable improvement during 2006, with a number of drugs in Phase II development for a range of indications including diabetes, cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder.