Westminster Health Forum

We are Boehringer Ingelheim - a different kind of partner

In 1885, in the southern German town of Ingelheim, Albert Boehringer started a small bio-technology company founded on innovation and social responsibility. More than 135 years later, Boehringer Ingelheim is a global pharmaceutical company, making medicines for people and animals. Today’s world is vastly different from Albert’s, but our founding purpose remain the same. We remain driven by a desire to transform lives for generations.

Boehringer Ingelheim remains family-owned, which is unusual and valuable in the broader landscape of pharmaceuticals. We are not beholden to the stock market like others, instead we answer to society. We plan in generations, not quarters, meaning we can take long term decisions that may not drive profit overnight but will ultimately benefit people.

Nowadays, the way we deliver healthcare improvements is inherently more sophisticated than Albert could have imagined. When we look at the specific challenges of improving health here in the UK, they are complex. However, we are clear about how our unique strengths can deliver value, focusing on three core areas: patient-centric data and digital technologies, sustainable healthcare and innovation with empathy.

When it comes to innovation and drug development, we take on the biggest challenges in medicine, focussing on unmet need. We are at the forefront of advancing research through open-source innovation and sharing expertise as well as molecules for research with the wider Life Sciences community. Our clinical trials include input from patients at all stage to ensure their needs are being met as we develop solutions.

We are committed to sustainable healthcare, planning for the long term alongside the NHS, helping it meet objectives outlined in The Long Term Plan.¹ We run numerous collaborative working projects, piloting new models of care aiming to improve patient outcomes as well as helping the NHS.

We are determined to help tackle the challenge of climate change. In 2021 we switched to 100% renewable energy, our green fleet policy has reduced vehicle emissions by almost 20% within the last three years and we expect to be carbon neutral in operations by 2030. We are reducing the water footprint at our manufacturing sites and protecting clean water in the communities in which we operate. Additionally, we utilise aspects of circularity to reduce overall operational waste to landfill, as well as applying eco-design and green chemistry concepts to all new products. Our ambition is to be net zero by 2045.

We are actively engaged in improving UK air quality, specifically around hospitals and community health centres. In 2022 we worked with Newcastle Hospitals and Global Action Plan to develop a Clean Air Framework supporting every ICS to become a ‘Clean Air Champion’.

Now more than ever, data and digital technology is playing a critical role in helping to accelerate innovation. Vital to the success of this transformation is ensuring patients and health and care professionals are involved and supported. Together with the AHSN Network and the University of Plymouth, we have published: How to involve and engage patients in digital health tech innovation – An Evidence Based Guide which provides practical steps on the principles of best patient and public engagement. This will also be made available as CPD via the ORCHA Digital Health Academy, the UK’s first online educational platform for health and care professionals on digital health.

Today we employ over 700 people around the UK committed to transforming lives for generations. As we look to the future, we can’t pretend it’s going to be easy. But just like Albert all those years ago, we believe that challenge is the seed of innovation, from which progress will flourish.

For further information, please visit www.boehringer-ingelheim.co.uk