Boehringer Ingelheim 2010 profits slump, hit by generics, but upbeat on success of Pradaxa

Independent German drug major Boehringer Ingelheim says it almost compensated for the anticipated loss of turnover announced in advance last year, nearly achieving the previous year‘s level despite heavy losses due to lapsing of exclusivity on important sales drivers the USA, as well as health care reforms there and in Europe.

At its annual results press conference, the company revealed that net income dropped 49.5% to 888 million euros ($1.26 billion) last year, hurt by the loss of patent protection in the USA for Flomax (tamsulosin) for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and Mirapex (pramipexole) for Parkinson’s disease. Following a 1% decline in turnover to 12.59 billion euros in 2010, the company said it expects a sales gain in the middle-single digit percentage range in 2011 and faster growth in 2012. Operating income, comparable to EBIT, was satisfactory at around 1.9 billion euros, the firm noted, corresponding to a return on net sales (operating income in relation to net sales) of 15.1%.

Andreas Barner, chairman of the board of managing directors and responsible for the Pharma Research, Development and Medicine division, stated: "The last business year was a year of transition. Due to patent expiries and the associated competition from generics, launch preparations for new products and regulatory changes in the markets, we had already anticipated in 2009 that we could not achieve the high growth rates of the previous years. So we made use of the time and laid the foundations for new growth."