We intend to carry out further clinical trials

Great-grandson of the founder of Boehringer Ingelheim, Christian Boehringer, forty-four years, chairs the Supervisory Board of the German laboratory. Fourteenth pharmaceutical group, Boehringer Ingelheim is the largest laboratory not listed in the world. Representative of the family, which owns 100 of the capital, Christian Boehringer establishes the link between the owners and the company, known especially for the Lysopaïne and the Pharmaton. According to him, the family has no intention to sell its shares. The laboratory, it must grow in emerging markets and non-prescription drugs. With respect to prescription pharmaceuticals, anticoagulant Pradaxa carries the hopes of the group. Until now used in the laying of the hip or knee prostheses, it could be used in the prevention of stroke. What give tone to the company, faced with the loss of a patent in 2010.

You come to inaugurate the new headquarters of Boehringer Ingelheim in Paris. Is the France a major country for the laboratory

The France offers opportunities, because the scientific expertise that we can find. We intend to carry out further clinical trials. But negotiations with the authorities on the price of drugs (such as those on the Spiriva) take time, and our market share is less than the average. The installation of the new headquarters for almost EUR 6 million, proves the interest we wear in the country.

One of your key products, the Flomax, will lose its patent the next year and you discuss "non-significant in 2010" growth. Are you having to change your strategy

It is certain that the next two years will be more difficult. In the past eight years, we've seen more in the market, with sales growth that evokes the slope of Mount Fuji. The future will look like rather to Everest, with a lower increase.

Will you reduce your investments

R & d, our commitment remains unchanged and the investment will be maintained. In production, spending will eventually decrease slightly, but they correspond to cycles and remain high. In the field of employment, we can stop hiring, but the idea is not to delete posts, with the exception of the United States, where we reorganize our sales force.

Your family plans to give its shares

No, nobody thinks to sell its interest. The family sees itself as the root of the tree, the feed and give stability. Unlike the other groups, Boehringer Ingelheim not assigned its non-prescription drugs or its animal health when they have been less profitable. We reinvest profits into the company because we do not seek short term profitability. And we are completely independent of the banks.

Can how much you devote to an acquisition

Perhaps up to EUR 1 billion. But the figures are less important than the areas in which we invest. We must strengthen us in emerging markets, biotechnology, and especially in animal health in the US, where we clearly lack a critical mass. We also want to increase the frequency of the launches of non-prescription drugs, whether it's new products and line extensions.

Would you be interested in manufacturers of generic drugs such as Ratiopharm

No, generics can concentrate only in very limited areas, such as emerging countries. Ratiopharm is no great interest for us, as the corporate cultures are too different.

When do you plan to sell the Pradaxa anticoagulant in its new indications

If all goes well, in 2010. This drug is promising: adverse effects are minimized and it had very little competition. Its sales potential is higher than that of the Spiriva, our main product, and should exceed EUR 3 billion. It will certainly become our first product in the next five years.