Pharma BD Deal Intelligence

Eli Lilly and Company / Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH

2011 · Co-Development · $444M · Complete

The diabetes alliance that produced Jardiance and Tradjenta—a combined portfolio generating over $10B in annual revenue. The 50/50 cost and revenue sharing structure leveraged both companies' strengths: BI's chemistry and Lilly's diabetes commercial machine.

CALLED IT — OFF BY 1
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Eli Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim established a broad diabetes alliance to jointly develop and commercialize a portfolio of diabetes compounds, anchored by empagliflozin (Jardiance), an SGLT2 inhibitor, and linagliptin (Tradjenta), a DPP-4 inhibitor. The alliance structure involves 50/50 cost and revenue sharing globally. BI contributes the compounds and Lilly contributes its diabetes commercial infrastructure. Financial terms were not fully disclosed but the combined portfolio has generated over $10B in annual revenue.

Key facts

Disease & market context

Type 2 Diabetes & Cardiorenal

29M US cases/yr · $16.4B US Diabetes Drug Market (2011)

Disease Overview

This record represents the broader Lilly-BI diabetes alliance. Empagliflozin's EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial (2015) demonstrated 38% reduction in CV death, expanding the addressable market to heart failure and CKD regardless of diabetes status.

Post-Deal Trajectory

Jardiance became a top-selling diabetes drug ($7.4B in 2023) with label expansions into heart failure (2022) and CKD (2023). The alliance was restructured in 2017. The SGLT2 class transformed from diabetes to cardiorenal therapy.

Type 2 Diabetes

21M US cases/yr · $16.4B US Diabetes Therapeutics Market (2011) · $28.1B Global Diabetes Drug Market (2012)

Disease Overview

Type 2 diabetes affects ~29 million Americans. The Lilly-BI alliance pooled empagliflozin (SGLT2 inhibitor) and linagliptin (DPP-4 inhibitor). Empagliflozin would differentiate on CV outcomes (EMPA-REG OUTCOME, 2015), becoming the first diabetes drug to show CV mortality reduction.

Competitive Landscape

The 2011 diabetes market was crowded: DPP-4 inhibitors (Januvia leading), GLP-1 agonists (Victoza), insulins (Lantus), and emerging SGLT2 inhibitors. Jardiance's CV outcomes data transformed SGLT2 inhibitors into a cardiac/renal drug class.

Deal timeline

Related deals — scored

DealYearValueOutcome
Eli Lilly and Company / Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH (this deal)2011$444M89
Eli Lilly and Company / Loxo Oncology, Inc.2019$8.0B88
Eli Lilly and Company / Applied Molecular Evolution Inc.2003$400M88
Eli Lilly and Company / ICOS Corporation2006$2.3B87
Eli Lilly and Company / Novartis Animal Health2014$5.4B70
Eli Lilly and Company / Incyte Corporation2009$755M69
Eli Lilly and Company / Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.2026$1.3B65

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