Life sciences industry in Switzerland

The life sciences industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people.[1] It contributes 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and 30% of the country's exports.[1] In 2017 about 30% of Swiss exports (worth $84.8 billion) were chemical products.[2] In the same year Switzerland was the second largest exporter of packaged medicine in the world, with about 11% of the global total, worth $36.5 billion.[3]

One of the many buildings of Novartis in Basel
The headquarters of Roche Diagnostics in Rotkreuz, Switzerland
The headquarters of Actelion in Allschwil

Switzerland is home to many pharmaceutical companies, including very large groups, such as Novartis and Hoffmann-La Roche. In 2013, 41 life science companies had their international headquarters (and 29 more their regional headquarters) in Switzerland.[4][5]

History

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Companies

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A number of life sciences companies are either headquartered in Switzerland or maintain regional headquarters in Switzerland:

Company Location Canton Divisions
Abbott Laboratories Basel   Basel-Stadt Established Pharmaceuticals Division
AC Immune Lausanne   Vaud Global headquarters
Accuray Morges,   Vaud International headquarters
Acino Holding Zürich   Zürich Global headquarters
Actelion, (Johnson & Johnson) Allschwil   Basel-Landschaft Global headquarters
Alcon Geneva   Geneva Global headquarters
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Baar   Zug International headquarters
Amgen Rotkreuz   Zug European hub
AstraZeneca Baar   Zug International headquarters
Bachem Bubendorf   Basel-Landschaft Global headquarters
Basilea Pharmaceutica Allschwil   Basel-Landschaft Global headquarters
Baxter International Zürich   Zürich European headquarters
Bayer Basel   Basel-Stadt Consumer Health Division, Hemophilia & Ophthalmology Pharma Global HQ Divisions with some Oncology
Beckman Coulter Nyon   Vaud European and emerging markets headquarters
Becton Dickinson Eysins   Vaud European headquarters
Bio-Rad Basel   Basel-Stadt European headquarters
Biogen Baar   Zug International headquarters
Biognosys Schlieren   Zürich Global headquarters
Bristol Myers Squibb Boudry   Neuchâtel Various global functions and global product supply Functions
Caris Life Sciences Basel   Basel-Stadt European headquarters
Cerbios-Pharma Lugano   Ticino Global headquarters
Cochlear Limited Basel   Basel-Stadt European headquarters
Debiopharm Lausanne   Vaud Global headquarters
Edwards Lifesciences Nyon   Vaud European headquarters
Exact Sciences Baar   Zug International headquarters
Ferring Pharmaceuticals Saint-Prex   Vaud Pharmaceutical manufacturing site
Finox Biotech Kirchberg   Bern Global headquarters
Galderma Zug   Zug Global headquarters
Galenica Bern   Bern Global headquarters
Genedata Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
GlaxoSmithKline Münchenbuchsee   Bern Local headquarters
Helsinn Lugano   Ticino Global headquarters
Hocoma Volketswil   Zürich Global headquarters
Idorsia Allschwil   Basel-Landschaft Global headquarters
Incyte Morges   Vaud European headquarters
InSphero Schlieren   Zürich Global headquarters
Intuitive Surgical Aubonne   Vaud European headquarters
Janssen-Cilag, (Johnson & Johnson) Zug   Zug Local headquarters
Lonza Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
Masimo Neuchâtel   Neuchâtel International headquarters
Medela Baar   Zug Global headquarters
Medtronic Tolochenaz   Vaud Europe & Central Asia headquarters
Moderna Basel   Basel-Stadt EMEA headquarters[7]
Molecular Partners Schlieren   Zürich Global headquarters
MSD Lucerne   Lucerne Local headquarters and pharmaceutical manufacturing site
NBE-Therapeutics Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
Neovii Pharmaceuticals Rapperswil   St. Gallen Global headquarters
NovaCurie Bern   Bern Global headquarters
Novartis Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
Novimmune Geneva   Geneva Global headquarters
Novo Nordisk Zürich   Zürich International operations
Octapharma Lachen   Schwyz Global headquarters
OM Pharma Meyrin   Geneva Global headquarters
Roche Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
Santhera Pratteln   Basel-Landschaft Global headquarters
Seagen Zug   Zug European headquarters
Senn Chemicals Dielsdorf   Zürich Global headquarters
Siegfried Holding Zofingen, Aargau   Aargau Global headquarters and manufacturing site
Sonova Stäfa, Zürich   Zürich Global headquarters
Sotio Biotech Basel   Basel-Stadt Local subsidiary
STAAR Surgical Nidau   Bern International headquarters
Straumann Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
Takeda Pharmaceutical Zürich   Zürich Europe & Canada business unit
Tecan Männedorf   Zürich Global headquarters
VAXIMM Basel   Basel-Stadt Global headquarters
CSL Vifor St. Gallen   St. Gallen Global headquarters
Ypsomed Burgdorf   Bern Global headquarters

Life sciences

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70% of the investments in life sciences in Europe are made in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.[4][5]

In addition to pharmaceutical companies (65 companies), Switzerland is home to many companies in the fields of biotechnology (338 companies) or medical devices and technology (341 companies).[4][5] According to KPMG, there are 120 life science companies in Basel, 132 in Zürich and 92 in the Lemanic region.[4][5]

In 2013, 41 life science companies had their international headquarters (and 29 more their regional headquarters) in Switzerland.[4][5] In Switzerland, there are about 51,000 workers in the field of medical technologies (1,600 companies) and 13,700 on the field of biotechnologies.[8]

Hubs

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Basel region

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According to Le Temps, there are about 900 pharmaceutical and medtech companies (50,000 workers) in the region of Basel.[8] The region of Zurich, mainly active in medical technologies employs 21,000 workers.[8]

Lemanic region

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The former headquarters of Merck Serono in Geneva, which now hosts the Campus Biotech

According to L'Hebdo, there are 750 biotech and medtech companies (20,000 employees) in the Lemanic region.[9] Among them, 450 companies develop and/or produce drugs.[9] In addition to that, there are 500 laboratories from universities and university hospitals (in the Lemanic region).[9]

See also

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Notes and references

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  1. ^ a b Stephan Vaterlaus, Stephan Suter and Barbara Fischer, "The Importance of the Pharmaceutical Industry for Switzerland", A study undertaken on behalf of Interpharma, September 2011.
  2. ^ Simoes, AJG; Hidalgo, CA. "OEC: The Observatory of Economic Complexity". oec.world. The Observatory of Economic Complexity. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  3. ^ Simoes, AJG; Hidalgo, CA. "OEC: Which countries export Packaged Medicaments? (2017)". oec.world. The Observatory of Economic Complexity. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e Site Selection for Life Sciences Companies, European Life Sciences Cluster 2013 Report, KPMG (page visited on 4 November 2013).
  5. ^ a b c d e (in French) Willy Boder, "La Suisse compétitive dans les sciences de la vie", Le Temps, Tuesday 5 November 2013, p. 15.
  6. ^ a b c (in French) Willy Boder, "Le grand chambardement de la pharma", Le Temps, Monday 7 July 2014, page 17.
  7. ^ "Moderna: about us". (in German)
  8. ^ a b c (in French) Dejan Nikolic, "Les sciences de la vie recrutent à Genève grâce à des ex-employés de Merck Serono", Le Temps, Tuesday 21 April 2015, page 13.
  9. ^ a b c (in French) Health Valley Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, L'Hebdo, 2010.

Bibliography

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  • (in French) Karl Lüönd, Principe actif: la connaissance. Passé et présent de l'industrie pharmaceutique suisse, Interpharma and éditions Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 2008.
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