Overview

The first 28 employees manufactured tartaric acid salts used by pharmacies and dyeing works. Over the course of the next decades, the once small tartar factory grew into a big pharmaceutical company. Throughout this time, employee benefits became a cornerstone of the company’s identity, with several initiatives launched at the beginning of the 20th century. Major breakthroughs and successes in research and development during the interwar period are closely tied to the activities of Heinrich Wieland and his brother Hermann Wieland. In 1927, Heinrich Wieland was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, an outstanding achievement which honored his research efforts that also contributed to the launch of several products for Boehringer Ingelheim.

By the time of Albert Boehringer’s death in 1939, the company employed 1,500 people. His two sons Albert jr. and Ernst Boehringer as well as his son-in-law Julius Liebrecht took over the family company, having served on the company's Board of Directors since the 1920s.

Milestones and turning points

1885: Breaking ground

Albert Boehringer purchases a small tartar factory in Nieder-Ingelheim, today part of Ingelheim am Rhein. On 31 July, his company is included into the commercial register. Entrepreneurial thinking ran in the family: His grandfather Christian Friedrich Boehringer (1791-1867) had founded a company in Stuttgart in 1817, with his business partner Christian Gotthold Engelmann (1787-1841). This company, later renamed C.F. Boehringer & Söhne, moved to Mannheim in 1871 and was managed by Christoph Heinrich Boehringer, Albert’s father, and Ernst Boehringer, Albert’s brother, while Albert started his own separate company in Nieder-Ingelheim.

1893: First breakthroughs

During experiments for producing citric acid, unwanted fermentation results in the formation of lactic acid. Instead of aborting these experiments, Albert Boehringer develops this process with the aim of producing lactic acid on an industrial scale.

Two years later, production is already taking place, making the company one of the pioneers of ‘biotechnological’ progress in industrial application. Two years later, the company registers its first patent for a new process for manufacturing lactic-acid baking powder.

1902: Empowering employees

In 1902, Albert Boehringer founds the company’s first health insurance scheme for employees. Further employee benefits follow, such as the first homes for company employees (since 1903), a benefit fund set up for retired employees (1905) and a foundation for disabled employees (1909). In 1910, employees are entitled to 14 days of paid annual holidays – with an allowance for travel expenses. To assure that his employees go on vacation for regeneration, Albert Boehringer insists that each employee should send a postcard from the vacation destination to him. This tradition continues for decades. On top of that, in 1912, employees with more than 20 years of service are entitled to a company pension.

1917: Foundation of the research department

In 1917, the research department is founded on the initiative of the chemist Heinrich Wieland (1877-1957), a cousin of Albert Boehringer. This department is responsible for all research and development activities in the company’s acid, alkaloid and pharmaceutical sector. It forms the cornerstone for Boehringer Ingelheim’s research activities. The partnership between Heinrich Wieland, his brother Hermann, and Boehringer Ingelheim goes back to the beginning of the 20th century. Following the research activities of the Wieland brothers, production of bile acid and its derivatives begins in 1917. Ten years later, Heinrich Wieland is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work investigating the composition of bile acids and related compounds.

1933-1945: The National Socialism period

The National Socialists' seizure of power in 1933 also affects Boehringer Ingelheim as a manufacturing company. The production of consumer goods is delayed or stopped. The Four-Year Plan in 1936 makes the entrepreneurial situation even more difficult (especially regarding raw materials), as import limitations and foreign currency restrictions are introduced. The armament of the Wehrmacht becomes the focus of the National Socialists' economic and financial policy.

With the beginning of the war in September 1939, Boehringer Ingelheim employees are drafted into the Wehrmacht. In addition, the production of war-relevant tablets and medicines as well as caffeine are expanded. Around 1,500 forced laborers from 12 nations are deployed at Boehringer Ingelheim sites until 1945. A detailed study on Boehringer Ingelheim under National Socialism was published by Prof. Dr. Michael Kißener (University of Mainz) in 2015.

1943: New site in Biberach

On 5 August 1943, the German Reich authorities for Chemistry issue a requirement that the company is to construct alternative plants for the manufacture of products, including Sympatol®, Aludrin®, Adrianol®, Lobelin® and Papaverin®. This order is closely related to the on-going Second World War, which calls for a decentralization of industrial production in case of aerial bombardments. Following internal deliberations, it is decided to open an alternative production plant in the town of Biberach an der Riss in Southern Germany, where products like Sympatol® and Lobelin® would be manufactured for the remainder of the war.

1945 and 1946: New beginnings

Four days before the arrival of American troops in Ingelheim in March 1945, the company closes its factory gates in Ingelheim. On 28 May 1945, work resumes at the Ingelheim plant. One year later, the Dr. Karl Thomae GmbH in Biberach an der Riss is re-established with a workforce of 70 people. In the same year, the CELA Landwirtschaftliche Chemikalien GmbH (Agricultural Chemicals Ltd.) is founded to produce pesticides, so that farmers can protect their plants against the potato beetle plague. Two years later, Olivin, which will sell cosmetic products for several decades, is founded.

Products of this period

1895

In 1895, the first patent is granted for the baking powder product Boeson.

1912

Boehringer Ingelheim launches its first pharmaceutical specialty, Laudanon®, an analgesic based on six opium alkaloids. Its widespread market launch takes place in 1915.

1920

The company launches the cardiovascular drug Cadechol®. It is the first product derived from Heinrich Wieland’s work.

1921

The Wieland brothers manage to isolate the pure alkaloid lobelin from the plant “Lobelia inflata”. This is marketed as Lobelin®. In the next decade, the large-scale synthesis of Lobelin® starts, and the company’s first research laboratory is constructed in Ingelheim.

1931

Sympatol® is launched, designed to improve circulation. It is a derivative of adrenaline. 

1941

The respiratory product Aludrin® is launched, breaking new ground in the treatment of asthma and later paving the way for betablockers.

1946

Thomapyrin is launched and remains a big seller for the company for seven decades.