Boehringer Ingelheim has unveiled plans to invest €230 million into a new Biologicals Development Center (BDC) at the company’s research and development site in Biberach, Germany during the foundation stone laying for the new center.

“The BDC is another key building block supporting the company’s long-term strategy for increasing the pipeline’s share of biologicals. This is particularly driven by two of our core areas, immune oncology and immunology,” said Fridtjof Traulsen, corporate senior vice president development, Boehringer Ingelheim. “The share of new biological entities in Boehringer Ingelheim’s research pipeline has been consistently increasing over the past few years and has now reached forty percent.”

The BDC will help to maximize synergies by integrating biologicals analytical and process development as well as manufacturing for clinical studies into one seamless unit, while at the same time increasing development capacity. Following a staggered launch beginning in 2020, the new building will be home to 500 employees. This is an increase of about 100 employees in biologicals development compared to today.

The new BDC adds to a number of major recent investments into the global Boehringer Ingelheim biopharmaceuticals development network aiming to further increase the company’s mammalian cell culture capabilities in this important area, including the large scale biopharmaceuticals facility in Vienna, Austria, a new biopharmaceuticals facility in Shanghai, China, and the expansion of existing large scale biopharmaceutical capacities in Fremont, CA, leading to an overall increase of investment in biopharmaceutical research, development and production.

Boehringer Ingelheim has developed biopharmaceuticals, such as a humanized antibody fragment that selectively reverts the effect of an oral anticoagulant prior to urgent procedures / emergency surgery or in uncontrolled bleeding, a first-in-class Interleukin-36 receptor antibody is being tested among others for special forms of psoriasis (generalized pustular psoriasis and palmoplantar pustulosis) as well as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease and several antibodies under investigation for difficult to treat cancers. Boehringer Ingelheim is committing more than 20% of its human pharma net sales to research and development. More than 8,000 employees work in four R&D centers of excellence on a highly innovative pipeline, 50% of which is anchored in external innovation.

Boehringer Ingelheim BioXcellence is a leader in biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing for large volume products, manufacturing 29 biopharmaceuticals for industry partners from around the world. These include monoclonal antibodies for oncology and immunology, interferons and other targeted therapies.