The pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people.[1] It contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and contributes to 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]
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]
1996: Ciba-Geigy merged with Sandoz, with the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both staying together to form Novartis. Other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were sold off, or, like Ciba Specialty Chemicals, were spun off as independent companies. The Sandoz brand disappeared for three years, but was revived in 2003 when Novartis consolidated its generic drugs businesses into a single subsidiary and named it Sandoz.
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.[7]
Hubs
Basel region
According to Le Temps, there are about 900 pharmaceutical and medtech companies (50,000 workers) in the region of Basel.[7] The region of Zurich, mainly active in medical technologies employs 21,000 workers.[7]
According to L'Hebdo, there are 750 biotech and medtech companies (20,000 employees) in the Lemanic region.[8] Among them, 450 companies develop and/or produce drugs.[8] In addition to that, there are 500 laboratories from universities and university hospitals (in the Lemanic region).[8]
^ abcde(in French) Willy Boder, "La Suisse compétitive dans les sciences de la vie", Le Temps, Tuesday 5 November 2013, p. 15.
^ abc(in French) Willy Boder, "Le grand chambardement de la pharma", Le Temps, Monday 7 July 2014, page 17.
^ abc(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.
(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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