Germany-based privately held pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim is involved in drug discovery, development and manufacturing. The company invested more than $350m in 2011 to boost its operations in the US. It announced a number of projects to expand its US headquarters campus.
The expansions include the construction of a research and development (R&D) building, a safety assessment building, a potent compound facility, a cogeneration system and an administrative building, in addition to IT infrastructure.
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Details of Boehringer Ingelheim’s US headquarters
The US headquarters of Boehringer Ingelheim is located on a 294-acre site, on Ridgebury road on the border of Ridgefield and Danbury, in Connecticut. It features a number of buildings for office, R&D and safety assessment.
Construction and contractors involved in the investment project
The existing R&D centre in Ridgefield was originally designed by US-based architect Flad and Associates. It was built in four phases, with 40,050ft² of R&D space, 109,800ft² of laboratory space and an 88,690ft² safety assessment building.
Expansion of Boehringer Ingelheim’s US operations
In August 2011, Boehringer Ingelheim broke ground for a safety assessment building within the headquarters campus.
The building is used for conducting non-clinical safety studies on drugs being researched or developed by the company. It has a 63,000ft² total floor space. The construction was completed by 2013 with an estimated $42.5m investment.
In November 2011, the company announced a $65m investment in an R&D facility at its headquarters. The facility was built as an extension to the existing R&D facility at the campus.
The existing facility was deemed to have become old and unsuitable for the latest technologies. The new facility is intended to help Boehringer Ingelheim overcome this problem.
Drugs to be produced at the R&D facility in Connnecticut
In March 2015, Boehringer opened its $65m R&D facility in Ridgebury. The facility offers a 72,000ft² area for R&D and production activities.
The pilot plant at the facility produces active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for use in drugs in the early stages of development.
It provides a chemical processing environment to convert chemical entities discovered at the company’s R&D facilities into APIs in sufficient quantities to support the development of life-saving drugs.
Details of the Boehringer Ingelheim R&D facility at Ridgefield
Boehringer Ingelheim’s $65m R&D facility is suitable only for drugs in the first two phases of development.
The third stage of development involves testing on a large-scale population, which requires higher quantities of the drug.
Products developed and approved at the facility are sent for further research and development at the company’s full-scale R&D facilities in Ohio and Virginia, as well as those in Germany and Italy.
The CDA agreed to provide a $5m sales and use tax rebate to Boehringer Ingelheim for creating jobs through the expansion of its Ridgefield headquarters.
The project created around 400 jobs. The CDA approved the exemption based on Boehringer Ingelheim’s proposal to invest $84m in the headquarters expansion.
Other Boehringer Ingelheim projects in the US
As part of the expansion of its operations, Boehringer Ingelheim announced a number of projects in the US in 2011.
Investments made by the company in 2011, other than those at the headquarters, included an $89m investment in expanding a biological manufacturing facility of the company in St. Joseph’s Missouri, investment in an animal vaccine research facility in Sioux Center, Iowa, and a $50m investment in a high-containment operations facility in Columbus, Ohio.
These investments are expected to significantly benefit the local economy. The company expects to develop innovative drugs and attain more patents through its new facilities.
