BI Invests $80 MM in Respimat Inhaler Mfg Expansion

Boehringer Ingelheim has invested EUR 72 million ($81 million) at its site in Ingelheim, Germany to expand filling and packaging capacity for its Respimat inhaler from 25 million units to more than twice as many per year. The expansion went into operation in early June 2015. The investment was the second step of a total investment of approximately EUR 170 million ($192 million) in Germany.

In Dortmund, where Boehringer Ingelheim microParts GmbH manufactures the Respimat inhaler, expanded Respimat production with an investment of EUR 100 million ($113 million) began operations in September 2014.

Following the expansion of inhaler production in Dortmund, investments in Ingelheim were also needed to adjust for the higher demand. At the Ingelheim site, inhalers from Dortmund are filled sterilely with pharmaceutical active ingredients kept in cartridges before being packaged and then sold globally for use in products to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma.

The development of the Respimat began in Dortmund at STEAG mircroParts in 1991, and the first production building for it was completed in Ingelheim in 1998. This was followed by the acquisition of microParts by Boehringer Ingelheim in 2004 and the introduction of Berodual in the Respimat in Germany as the first product on the market. Spiriva Respimat for COPD was launched on the European market in 2007 and subsequently in other countries, most recently in the US this year. In 2012, Combivent Respimat was introduced in the US. This was followed in 2014 by Striverdi Respimat in Europe and the US,while Spiriva in the Respimat also obtained a license extension as an additional treatment for patients with asthma. At the end of May 2015, Boehringer Ingelheim obtained licensing for an int new long-term treatment for COPD in the US (Stiolto Respimat), which is soon to be introduced on the market in the first European countries with the name Spiolto Respimat.

Source: Boehringer Ingelheim

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