Pharmaceutical Giant Boehringer Expands Production Site in Greece

Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading research-driven biopharmaceutical company, announced a further expansion and upgrade of its plant in Koropi, Greece on Thursday.

With an investment of 120 million euros, the company will increase the manufacturing capacity of new and existing medications.

The main disease areas include cardio-renal-metabolic (CRM) diseases, mental health, pulmonary fibrosis, systemic sclerosis, and chronic liver disease. Some of these are in the late-stage development of the company’s strong innovation pipeline.

The expansion will create 110 additional jobs and boost medicine exports from Greece, particularly of Jardiance®, a medication used to treat type 2 diabetes, chronic (long-term) heart failure, and chronic kidney disease, to the US market.

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Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the groundbreaking ceremony at the Koropi site. “The produces some of the most innovative antidiabetic medicines, and to see the excellent organization as well as the high level of expertise and professionalism,” he noted and added:

“I am very pleased with the progress that the company has made; with the 700 skilled employees whose number will increase by more than 100 when this investment is completed; and, of course, with this important shift towards innovation. I want to thank the company for its continuous trust in Greece.”

“We have a lot of scientists that excel abroad and one of the major wagers of this government is to be able to create the conditions for them to return to Greece and have good jobs in businesses which meet their conditions and will satisfy their expectations,” Mitsotakis said.

Research & Development at the forefront at Boehringer

Putting innovative production technologies in place to support successful Research & Development (R&D) is a key investment driver at Boehringer.

In 2022, the company’s global expenditure in Human Pharma R&D amounted to 4.6 billion euros. Of Human Pharma net sales, 25 percent are reinvested to advance science and cutting-edge research so as to find new therapies and treatments for patients who waiting for new solutions in areas of high unmet patient needs. More than half of its fifty-three thousand workforce and over 60 percent of R&D budgets are invested in Europe.

“We have been present in Greece since 1966, and have gradually expanded our operations in the country,” said Hubertus von Baumbach, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors at Boehringer Ingelheim.

“This expansion investment will bring some of our most innovative therapies to an increasing number of patients globally,” von Baumbach said.

Boehringer established the production facility in Koropi in 1975. In 2020, the company announced multi-year investments to expand the site and its production capacity. The Koropi plant is the only industrial facility of a multinational pharmaceutical company in Greece producing innovative medicines.