Boehringer's profit up as Jardiance gains offset higher costs

FRANKFURT (Reuters) -German unlisted drugmaker Boehringer Ingelheim said on Wednesday its operating income rose 1.4% in 2022, as more prescriptions of diabetes drug Jardiance trumped higher energy and development costs.

Family-owned Boehringer said in its annual report that full-year operating income came in at 4.77 billion euros ($5.17 billion), up from 4.71 billion a year earlier.

The Jardiance group of products, managed in a partnership with Eli Lilly, made 5.8 billion euros in sales, a currency-adjusted surge of 39.1%.

The diabetes treatment is increasingly used to cut the risk of cardiovascular disease in diabetic patients and it also won approval as a treatment for heart failure early in 2022.

Apart from higher material and energy costs, earnings growth was tempered by expenses for large clinical trials and write-downs on development projects.

"The strong business results are laying the foundation for the funding of our late-stage pipeline, of mid-term growth opportunities and of further investment in new technologies," said the group's finance chief Michael Schmelmer.

Boehringer and Lilly said last November that Jardiance was shown to also slow the progression of chronic kidney disease, as the partners seek to catch up with market segment leader AstraZeneca with its kidney drug Farxiga.

Sales of pulmonary fibrosis drug Ofev rose a currency-adjusted 20.6% to 3.2 billion euros, Boehringer said.

For 2023, Boehringer predicted a slight increase in operating income.

($1 = 0.9232 euros)

(Reporting by Ludwig Burger and Patricia WeissEditing by Louise Heavens and Mark Potter)