Bencard is ranked 6th in the multispecialist “Best Pharmaceutical Companies Germany” 2022 ranking in the category “Large individual, medium-sized and international companies”. Infectopharm, Gedeon Richter, ALK-Abelló and Exeltis placed first this year. Bencard’s most recent new product launch and winner of the “Most Innovative Product” award in the OTC category last year was the immunostimulant immunoBON®.
The name Bencard stands for the research and development of drugs for the diagnosis and causal immunotherapy of allergies. Bencard Ltd., founded in 1934 in Hendon, UK, has been trading as Allergy TherapeuticsPLC since 1998. Today, the headquarters and production site with over 400 employees is in Worthing, UK. 20 subsidiaries and sales offices represent Allergy Therapeutics around the globe. In 2020/2021, Group sales were £84.331 million (British pounds), an increase of 8% over the previous year.
Bencard Allergie GmbH has been headquartered in Munich as the DACH (Germany – Austria – Switzerland) headquarters since 2017. Here, 140 employees generated a turnover of 49 million euros in 2018. The DACH region is the parent company’s most important sales market worldwide. 64% of Group turnover was generated in Germany in 2021; 10% in Spain, 7% in Austria. The main sales driver was Pollinex®Quattro, an individual formulation for hay fever and asthma, with 40%, followed by Pollinex® (21%) and Oralvac® (12%).
Bencard: Thinking “AllerGOlogy” ahead
Allergy Therapeutics manufactures specific immunotherapeutics for pollen, house dust, mite, animal dander and insect allergies. The company’s innovations include MPL®-adjuvanted short-term immunotherapy and tyrosine-adsorbed allergoids (MCT®), which make Bencard the only supplier to dispense with aluminium salts as depot carriers and enable ultra-short-term treatment. Since 2015, the portfolio has also included over-the-counter synbiotics and food supplements. All Rx preparations for allergen-specific immunotherapy are produced in the UK. All over-the-counter products are manufactured within the EU.
In January 2021, Bencard launches immunoBON®, a dietary food against allergies; the lozenges contain beta-lactoglobulin, a key molecule for “allergy protection from the farm”. Studies are investigating, among other things, new pollen short-term immunotherapies and a vaccination for peanut allergy, which entered phase 1 in 2022. Other immunotherapies for the major allergies are in phase 2 or 3 clinical trials. Approximately £12.887 million was spent on research and development in 2020/2021.
As a research-based pharmaceutical company, Bencard Allergie sets high ethical standards for itself as well as for the diagnostics and therapeutics it develops. Bencard Allergie claims high standards in sustainability and environmental protection (“reduce, reuse and recycle”).
Awards for Bencard for Innovation
In Pharma Trend, Bencard Allergie has long been a renowned name among allergists for allergy treatment. Bencard was awarded “The Most Innovative Product” by pharmacists in 2021 for immunoBON®.
Awards for innovation and sustainability since 2000:
- immunoBON® (2021)
