On March 25, German biopharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim announced its full-year financial report for 2025, with revenue increasing by 7.3% to 27.8 billion euros. The company also continues to increase investment in research and development. In 2025, Boehringer Ingelheim's research and development amount will reach 6.4 billion euros, accounting for 22.9% of the group's net sales, a further increase from the previous year.
Shashank Deshpande, Chairman of the Global Executive Board of Boehringer Ingelheim and Head of the Human Pharmaceuticals Business, reiterated the importance of the Chinese market to the company at the earnings conference. He said that the two new drugs launched by Boehringer Ingelheim last year were both launched for the Chinese market. "This is the first time that a product from Boehringer Ingelheim for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and progressive pulmonary fibrosis (PPF) has been launched in China," Deshpande said. "China's drug approval speed has led the world."
In addition to this drug for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis, the company's other oral drug St. Hetu for the treatment of HER2 mutation-positive advanced non-small cell lung cancer was also approved for marketing in China and the United States last year.
When talking about the importance of the Chinese market, many executives emphasized China's innovation capabilities. Paola Casarosa, member of the global executive board of Boehringer Ingelheim and head of the Innovation Division, told China Business News: "We regard China as an important source of innovation and have deployed a business development team in China."
In January this year, Boehringer Ingelheim and Simcere Pharmaceuticals (2096.HK) announced a licensing and cooperation agreement. The two parties will jointly develop Simcere’s preclinical-stage TL1A/IL23p19 bispecific antibody for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease.
In the context of major pharmaceutical companies expanding their cooperation with China's innovative drugs and actively seeking new drug licensing acquisitions, Casarosa said: "We will continue to promote such cooperation in the future. In terms of targeted therapy, specific therapy and new treatment methods, China has shown strong strength and huge potential, and we look forward to opportunities for further cooperation. To build the best R&D pipeline, it means that we need to explore cutting-edge therapies with innovative clinical value on a global scale."
In addition, Boehringer Ingelheim’s weight loss drug pipeline has also attracted much attention. Survodutide, a GLP-1 weight loss drug developed by the company in partnership with Zealand, is currently undergoing multiple clinical trials.
Casarosa told China Business News that further data on the clinical study of survodutide will be obtained within this year, but the release time still depends on the completion of the trial, the main data results, and the time when some endpoints of the trial (such as cardiovascular risk) are achieved.
