12 minute read
Boehringer Ingelheim continues to address unmet healthcare needs
Rodrigo Lau
Boehringer Ingelheim, headquartered in Ingelheim, Germany, is one of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies. The company has been transforming lives in healthcare since 1885 through innovation with the expertise in respiratory diseases, metabolism, immunology, oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. In Thailand, Boehringer Ingelheim has been operating a local office since 1966 and has been a GTCC member since 1968.
For this issue of UPDATE magazine, GTCC is pleased to interview Mr. Rodrigo Lau, General Manager & Head of Human Pharma at Boehringer Ingelheim Thailand on the company’s journey, especially the corporate culture, milestones, lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic, and new products to launch in the near future.
Boehringer Ingelheim has a rich history in the pharmaceutical industry. What are the key milestones, innovations, and core values that have contributed to the company’s continued success over the years?
Boehringer Ingelheim is a family-owned company and was established 140 years ago in Germany, with a long history of innovative breakthroughs that have continued to serve patients and animals. Our purpose is to transform the lives through generations and innovation is in the DNA of the company. From the early beginnings, Boehringer Ingelheim started its operation as a producer for tartaric acids but through experiments, we became the first to discover large scale production of lactic acids, a very important emulsifier used across the pharmaceutical, food and cosmetics industry. Two years after this discovery, Boehringer patented the manufacturing of lactic acid, and that is when started our long journey to develop breakthrough therapies and serve unmet medical needs of people and animals around the world.
Shortly after establishing our research department in 1917, we have discovered several groundbreaking therapies in respiratory diseases which was the basis for treatments for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and in cardiovascular diseases which paved way for treatments such as hypertension, heart attack, stroke. These areas have become our strong heritage products. Boehringer has been creating value through innovations and investing in innovations all the time.
The company has started international expansions in 1948. Boehringer’s first office in Asia was established in 1961, in Japan. We started our operations in Thailand in 1966, nearly 60 years ago through our partner distributor – Zuellig Pharma. We officially established an office in 1971, since then, we have been leveraging all those innovations developed by Boehringer Ingelheim worldwide for our local needs here in Thailand.
How has Boehringer Ingelheim navigated its journey in Thailand?
Thailand has a well-structured health system, with very clear schemes supported by the government authorities. Thailand is also a medical hub of the region. However, as any other country, the health system in Thailand also faced some challenges especially in regards to access to innovations in the context of an aging society.
At Boehringer Ingelheim, we try to understand the government challenges, establishing an open dialogue where we can work together bringing innovations to the country. This allows us to really live our purpose of transforming lives and make our products and innovations available to those that matters most: patients. In Thailand, we have products for both humans and animals, while our human health is the largest part of our business, there are vast opportunities for the animal health business in Thailand where we can further explore.
What are the key factors that have contributed to Boehringer Ingelheim’s success in Thai market?
First is bringing in innovation that addresses our patient’s needs and government priorities in Thailand. As a company with strong heritage in the respiratory, cardiovascular and metabolic areas, we invest in several areas levering our strengths including cardiovascular, renal, metabolic diseases areas as well as exploring new grounds in the space of ILD diseases in Thailand.
The second factor is our partnership with different stakeholders in Thailand. As a pharmaceutical company, we have the innovation, knowledge, and best practices from different markets we operate in. However, the success of one market cannot be directly replicated into another market. Hence, it is important for us to work with our local stakeholders to undercover local insights and provide the best treatments for our patients. To do so, we work with different medical associations, hospitals, external experts, and physicians.
The third factor is our people because they are the people who work closely with our stakeholders and share with us their under standing of the local markets be it hospitals, patients, and the government. Together, we create or co-create solutions with the right attitude, mindset and the spirit aligning with the purpose of the company towards making more for every life.
This year, Boehringer Ingelheim has been awarded “Global Top Employer” for the fourth year in a row, and we are one of the 17 globally certified companies by the Top Employers Institute. For Thailand, it is the sixth consecutive year of recognition. Havin received this recognition means that we are doing the right things for our people here, fostering a safe environment of diversity, equity, inclusion, while reinforcing the culture of strong cross functional collaboration, agile and customer driven organisation.
How does Boehringer Ingelheim customise its pharmaceutical products and solutions to meet the specific requirements and preferences of customers in different regions, especially in Thailand?
Our products are globally developed with high technology. While we cannot customise products, we can customise the solutions that bring value to our customers and patients in Thailand. To do so, we really need to understand the local needs, market, culture of the market and behavior of our customers and patients.
To gain these insights, we work and engage very closely with our medical and patient associations to fully understand our stakeholder’s perspectives on the diseases, treatments, as well as the challenges they face through our interactions. Through that, we can craft services, projects or initiatives that really meet their needs.
Are there any upcoming product launches or expansions in Boehringer Ingelheim’s pharmaceutical portfolio that you can share with us?
We just launched a new indication for one of our products for the treatment of chronic kidney disease (CKD), a renal disease in December 2023. This is an important launch for us as CKD is a clear threat for patients affecting the Thai healthcare system and prior to this, there was limited treatment available before.
The future is promising for Boehringer-Ingelheim, as we have a long-term perspective and plan in generations, we are consistently investing in R&D in areas with clear unmet needs, being one of the top investing companies in R&D across the industry. In 2022, we reinvested 20% of our sales in R&D, which means approximately €5 billion to explore new molecules/ indications across different therapeutic areas leveraging our existing expertise in CardioRenal-Metabolic disorders, including obesity, and expanding to new frontiers such as mental health, retinal health and different pathways in oncology.
In regard to the CRM diseases, we try to understand the link of one disease with the others. For example, we explored what kind of diseases connected to diabetes and discovered heart failure, chronic kidney disease and obesity are related areas.
How does Boehringer Ingelheim ensure adherence to specific regulations in Thailand's pharmaceutical industry, and its commitment to high-quality standards in its operations and product offerings?
We strictly follow the guidance and practices specified by the Thailand’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as well as Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association (PReMA) Code of Conduct.
Internally, we have our own Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) which provides clear guidance on what they can do and processes to ensure whatever we do is compliant. We provide trainings to our employees to ensure that they are constantly reminded and aware to follow these processes. We place highest emphasis on this, as our people are the foundation of our decisions and compliance is everyone’s responsibility in our company.
We encourage our employees to have a speak up culture where they can report anonymously about anything they think is not correct. We put in place the committee for investigation and the measures to tackle those things not to happen again. This part of the culture is very important, and it is how we can strengthen our processes.
In terms of product offerings, we have strict quality assurance and control process in place with frequent audits to ensure our quality processes are of the highest standards. We also have post-production quality assurance processes in place to monitor our products as well as open channels of communication for our customers to report adverse effects for further investigation.
What are noteworthy partnerships or collaborations that have been instrumental in Boehringer Ingelheim’s journey?
As highlighted earlier, collaboration is a critical to bring different stakeholders to achieve common goals and so have several partnerships and initiatives and partnerships for patients and the general population.
We collaborate with the Thai Stroke Society to run the “ANGELs”, a global project that was launched in Thailand to optimise the quality and time of treatment of stroke patients across all stroke centers. For stroke patients, delayed diagnosis and treatment of stroke can lead to death or permanent disability. This is why it’s so important for us to work with hospitals and put the right process in place to ensure that stroke patients can receive treatment once they arrive at the hospitals. Our goal is to ensure patients receive their treatment within 45 minutes. Since the launch of this project, 186 hospitals in Thailand have been registered under this ANGELs.
Beyond optimising the quality of treatment, we also want to raise awareness of stroke among children, as a lot of them live with their family and grandparents, we can motivate them to seek help should their family members exhibit symptoms. Together with teachers, we work with them to produce materials used to teach the students. Globally, we have over 325,000 kids in 6,500 schools in more than 26 countries and we hope to reach out to 1 million children worldwide. This project is something we have piloted in two schools in Thailand and we’re currently exploring ways on how we can further expand this program to address local needs.
Diabetes is also a major health issue in Thailand, there are at least 300,000 new diabetes patients diagnosed each year. Hence, we’ve collaborated with the Diabetes Association of Thailand to launch the “HealthyDM” project aimed to raise awareness about the connection between diabetes, heart, and kidney diseases as well as share tips on lifestyle changes to manage and prevent diabetes.
How has Boehringer Ingelheim observed the effects of COVID-19 on the industry, and what strategies does the company have in place to adapt to such challenges?
The pandemic has taught us so many lessons, especially one about the importance of collaboration towards common goals. If we look back to those days, we clearly see how everyone prioritised and moved very quickly. Pharma companies were quick to put in the investments and resources to develop vaccines; authorities were active in approving and implementing vaccination programs. This is the same everywhere, in Thailand and globally.
My takeaway is that, as a company especially with the purpose to transform lives of people and patients across generations, we would be even more open to collaborate with different sectors, even other private companies and public institutions to co-create solutions for emerging diseases and bring life forward. When we talk about health, there's no me or you, it's us. At Boehringer we work with unwavering optimism to anticipate and adapt to changes and challenges to come.
What would be the key trend in the pharma industry, probably AI?
Technology will continue to be the trend. In terms of AI, we can consider different ways of using artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical trials such as testing molecules, and the research and development. However, we must acknowledge that there are challenges, limitations, and concerns on AI, especially on the regulatory and ethical front. Once we have answers to the challenges and concerns, I have no doubt that AI will change our lives a lot.
Digital health and applications are also emerging trend, as they can be used to improve and supplement treatment for patients i.e. health tracking apps.
In a competitive landscape, how does Boehringer Ingelheim differentiate itself from other players in the pharmaceutical industry?
As one of the top companies Boehringer has very promising innovation pipelines in different areas. We are leveraging our areas of expertise and exploring new areas with specific focuses. Our strength and uniqueness is that we have a long-term goal in seeking solutions, targeting areas of clear unmet medical needs, where treatment is not yet available, also in search of the areas that we would make the difference to the people’s lives and society.
The second differentiation is our people — the right people in place with the right attitude, the right behaviour, with the right goal of working together as a team, working with stakeholders and understanding the needs of patients and customers.
The final differentiation point is our people’s competency – the three core competencies we believe are very critical are accountability, we want to ensure our people are held accountable in whatever they do, agility, which is not only focused on speed but also how we deal with changes or anticipate change. Finally, intrapreneurship, as we take ownership with the right attitude to make things happen with flawless execution. Our competencies drive our people at Boehringer Ingelheim across the world and in Thailand through our long-term purpose, which is to transform lives for generations. I believe these are our points of differentiation.
Contact details:
Rodrigo Lau
General Manager & Head of Human Pharma
Boehringer Ingelheim Thailand
+66 2 308 8500
