Even as Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. builds a $65 million facility in Ridgefield to speed the development of new pharmaceutical compounds, a study claims the company had shortages of more drugs over a five-year period than all but two other suppliers.
In a study published by its IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, Danbury-based IMS Inc. said Boehringer suffered shortages of 56 separate drugs over that period without specifying the degree to which shortages existed as measured by total volume or potential sales.
IMS singled out Boehringer”™s Ohio-based generic drug subsidiary Bedford Labs in the report ”“ in mid-November, Bedford Labs announced it was suspending manufacturing while it reviewed its maintenance record for equipment used in the production process.
Even as Boehringer addresses its production problems in Ohio, it is adding to its U.S. headquarters in Ridgefield with a 72,000 square-foot research and development facility, at a cost of $65 million. Boehringer will produce active pharmaceutical ingredients in the new building ”“ if those ingredients are approved, the company”™s facilities in Ohio, Virginia and Europe would take on additional development.
In August, the company announced its investment in a new drug-safety assessment building in Ridgefield. The $42 million project is scheduled to be completed in 2013 and will provide more than 60,000 square feet of space for non-clinical safety studies.
Boehringer is already one of the largest employers in Fairfield County with more than 2,500 workers in Ridgefield and Danbury at last report. In October and November, it posted more than 60 job openings at the Ridgefield campus ”“ including a “talent acquisition” manager to help the company recruit scientists.
The company”™s local growth marks the second major life-sciences expansion announced in Connecticut the past few months, following Maine-based Jackson Laboratory”™s decision to build a genetics lab in Farmington with $290 million in backing from the state.
Boehringer recently completed new facilities in Iowa and Ohio as well, and announced a planned manufacturing expansion in Missouri. It also acquired a West Coast facility from Amgen that includes more than 300,000 square fee of lab and manufacturing space.
“These are exciting projects; ones that increase Boehringer Ingelheim”™s research and development capabilities and reinforce our commitment to growth and innovation in the U.S.,” said J. Martin Carroll, CEO of Boehringer Ingelheim”™s U.S. operations, in a prepared statement. “Through these investments we are improving our ability to research, develop and manufacture the medicines of tomorrow and in doing so fulfilling our promise to bring more health to patients and their families.”
Boehringer”™s expansion comes even as the company appears to have a potential new blockbuster on its hands: Spiriva, an inhalant used to treat wheezing or shortness of breath caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Of the 20 bestselling drugs in the U.S. last year, Spiriva shot to the second-best growth rate at 19 percent according to a Verispan analysis published by Drugs.com. Spiriva sales totaled $1.6 billion, helping offset a two-thirds decline in Flomax sales, after generic competitors began selling drugs that similarly treat enlarged prostates.
Separately, reports surfaced in November attributing some 260 deaths to harmful side effects from Boehringer”™s new Pradaxa blood-thinner drug used to reduce the risk of stroke in patients with abnormal heart rhythms. The Food and Drug Administration approved Pradaxa in October 2010 for sale in the U.S. Boehringer said the risks of internal bleeding from Pradaxa can be managed and that the drug represents less of a risk than warfarin, which Pradaxa aims to replace. This November, the FDA approved a competing drug called Xarelto for sale by Bayer and an affiliate of Johnson & Johnson.
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals Inc. is the largest U.S. subsidiary of Boehringer Ingelheim Corp.
