The

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

in Switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people.Stephan Vaterlaus, Stephan Suter and Barbara Fischer
"The Importance of the Pharmaceutical Industry for Switzerland"
A study undertaken on behalf of Interpharma, September 2011. It contributes to 5.7% of the

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is oft ...

of Switzerland and contributes to 30% of the country's exports. In 2017 about 30% of Swiss exports (worth $84.8 billion) were chemical products. 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. Switzerland is home to many pharmaceutical companies, including very large groups, such as

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

and Hoffmann-La Roche. In 2013, 41 life science companies had their international headquarters (and 29 more their regional headquarters) in Switzerland.

History

* 1896: foundation of Hoffmann-La Roche. Willy Boder, "Le grand chambardement de la pharma", ''

Le Temps ''Le Temps'' ( literally "The Time") is a Swiss French-language daily newspaper published in Berliner format in Geneva by Le Temps SA. It is the sole nationwide French-language non-specialised daily newspaper of Switzerland. Since 2021, it has ...

'', Monday 7 July 2014, page 17. * 1933: foundation of Interpharma. * 1950s:

Cilag Cilag AG is a Swiss pharmaceutical company. Cilag is a subsidiary of American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson. The company's global marketing activities are operated by Janssen-Cilag, a merger with another Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, Janss ...

merged with

Janssen Pharmaceutica Janssen Pharmaceuticals is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Beerse, Belgium, and wholly-owned by Johnson & Johnson. It was founded in 1953 by Paul Janssen. In 1961, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was purchased by New Jersey-based American ...

, into Janssen-Cilag. * 1996:

Ciba-Geigy Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loca ...

merged with Sandoz, with the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both staying together to form

. Other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were sold off, or, like

Ciba Specialty Chemicals Ciba was a chemical company based in and near Basel, Switzerland. "Ciba" stood for "Chemische Industrie Basel" (Chemical Industries Basel). It was formed as the non-pharmaceuticals elements of Novartis were spun out in 1997, following the merg ...

, 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 Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loca ...

. * 1990: Hoffmann-La Roche owned a majority of Genentech. It was to be completely integrated in 2009. * 2000:

divested its agrochemical and genetically modified crops business with the spinout of Syngenta, in partnership with

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, England. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

, which also divested its agrochemical business.

Companies

A number of pharmaceutical companies are headquartered in Switzerland: * Hoffmann-La Roche: Basel *

: Basel * Alcon: Geneva * Bayer: Basel (Consumer Health Division, Hemophilia & Ophthalmology Pharma Global HQ Divisions with some Oncology) * Lonza Group: Basel * Abbott: Basel (Established Pharmaceuticals Division) *

Galenica Galenica AG, headquartered in Bern, is an internationally active Swiss pharmaceutical and logistics company group, named after the ancient physician Galenus. It dates back to the 1927 Collaboration Pharmaceutique SA, a purchasing center for pharma ...

: Bern * Actelion ( Johnson & Johnson): Basel * Janssen-Cilag ( Johnson & Johnson) * Sonova:

Stäfa Stäfa is a municipality in the district of Meilen in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. Geography Stäfa has an area of . Of this area, 46.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while 18.8% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 34% is sett ...

* Galderma: Zug *

Ferring Pharmaceuticals Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a Swiss multinational biopharmaceutical company specialising in areas such as reproductive health, maternal health, gastroenterology and urology. Ferring has been developing treatments for mothers and babies for over 50 ...

: Saint-Prex * Octapharma: Lachen, Switzerland * Vifor Pharma: St.Gallen * Straumann: Basel * Tecan: Männedorf * Siegfried Holding: Zofingen * Medela: Baar * Acino Holding: Zurich * Ypsomed: Burgdorf * OM Pharma:

Meyrin Meyrin () is a municipality of the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. The main site of CERN, the European particle physics research organisation, is in Meyrin. Meyrin was originally a small agricultural village until the 1950s, when construction of ...

* Basilea Pharmaceutica: Basel *

Debiopharm Debiopharm is a family-owned biopharmaceutical company active in drug development and manufacturing of proprietary drugs, diagnostics, and investments, headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was founded in 1979 by Rolland-Yves Mauvernay.

: Lausanne * Genedata: Basel * Bachem: Basel * Molecular Partners: Zurich * Senn Chemicals:

Dielsdorf Dielsdorf is a municipality, seat of the district of Dielsdorf in the canton of Zürich in Switzerland. History Dielsdorf is first mentioned in 861 as ''Theolvesthoruf''. The name means ''estate or farm of Theolf'' which is supposed to have ...

* NBE-Therapeutics: Basel * Santhera: Basel * AC Inmmune: Lausanne * Idorsia: Basel * VAXIMM: Basel * Cerbios-Pharma: Lugano * Finox Biotech: Kirchberg * Helsinn: Lugano * Novimmune: Geneva * Neovii Pharmaceuticals: Rapperswill * Biognosys: Zurich * InSphero:

Schlieren Schlieren ( ; , ) are optical inhomogeneities in transparent media that are not necessarily visible to the human eye. Schlieren physics developed out of the need to produce high-quality lenses devoid of such inhomogeneities. These inhomogeneiti ...

* NovaCurie: Bern Additionally, several non-domestic pharmaceutical companies have regional headquarters in Switzerland, including: * Accuray: Morges (International Headquarters) *

Alexion Pharmaceuticals Alexion Pharmaceuticals is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that specializes in orphan drugs to treat rare diseases. It became an independent subsidiary of AstraZeneca in 2021. Its products include ecul ...

: Zurich (EMEA Headquarters) *

Amgen Amgen Inc. (formerly Applied Molecular Genetics Inc.) is an American multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California. One of the world's largest independent biotechnology companies, Amgen was established in T ...

Rotkreuz Risch is a municipality in the canton of Zug in Switzerland. It is also promoted as Risch-Rotkreuz. Four villages (Rotkreuz, Risch, Buonas and Holzhäusern) belong to the municipality ''Risch''. On 24 November 2007 it was decided to promote the ...

(European Hub) * Baxter International: Zurich (European Headquarters) *

Beckman Coulter Beckman Coulter Inc. is a Danaher Corporation company that develops, manufactures, and markets products that simplify, automate and innovate complex biomedical testing. It operates in two industries: Diagnostics and Life Sciences. For more than ...

: Nyon (European and Emerging Markets Headquarters) *

Becton Dickinson Becton, Dickinson and Company, also known as BD, is an American multinational medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytics services in certai ...

Eysins Eysins is a municipality in the district of Nyon in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. History Eysins is first mentioned around 1001-02 as ''Osinco''. Geography Eysins has an area, , of . Of this area, or 70.2% is used for agricultural purpose ...

(European Headquarters) *

Biogen Biogen Inc. is an American multinational biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializing in the discovery, development, and delivery of therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases to patients worldwide. History ...

: Baar (International Headquarters) *

Bio-Rad Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. is an American developer and manufacturer of specialized technological products for the life science research and clinical diagnostics markets. The company was founded in 1952 in Berkeley, California, by husband an ...

: Basel (European Headquarters) * Caris Life Sciences: Basel (European Headquarters) * Bristol Myers Squibb: Boudry * Cochlear Limited: Basel (European Headquarters) * Edwards Lifesciences: Nyon (European Headquarters) * Exact Sciences:

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

(International Operations) * Incyte: Morges (European Headquarters) *

Intuitive Surgical Intuitive Surgical, Inc. is an American corporation that develops, manufactures, and markets robotic products designed to improve clinical outcomes of patients through minimally invasive surgery, most notably with the ''da Vinci'' Surgical System ...

Aubonne Aubonne () is a municipality in the district of Morges in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. In 2011 the former municipality of Pizy merged into Aubonne and on 1 January 2021 Montherod merged into it. History The municipality was settled v ...

(European Headquarters) * Masimo: Neuchatel (International Headquarters) * Medtronic:

Tolochenaz Tolochenaz is a municipality in the Swiss canton of Vaud, located in the district of Morges. Geography Tolochenaz has an area, , of . Of this area, or 34.6% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 6.9% is forested. Of the rest of the land ...

(Europe & Central Asia Headquarters) * Novo Nordisk: Zurich (International Operations) * STAAR Surgical: Nidau (International Headquarters) * SOTIO Biotech AG (European Hub) *

Takeda Pharmaceutical The is a Japanese multinational pharmaceutical company, with partial American and British roots. It is the largest pharmaceutical company in Asia and one of the top 20 largest pharmaceutical companies in the world by revenue (top 10 followin ...

: Zurich (Europe & Canada Business Unit) Finally, other companies with relevant international activities in Switzerland are: * GlaxoSmithKline *

Merck Group The Merck Group, branded and commonly known as Merck, is a German multinational science and technology company headquartered in Darmstadt, with about 60,000 employees and present in 66 countries. The group includes around 250 companies; the ma ...

Life sciences

70% of the investments in life sciences in Europe are made in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, France, and Switzerland.Site Selection for Life Sciences Companies
European Life Sciences Cluster 2013 Report,

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

(page visited on 4 November 2013). Willy Boder, "La Suisse compétitive dans les sciences de la vie", ''

'', Tuesday 5 November 2013, p. 15. 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). According to

, there are 120 life science companies in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, 132 in

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

and 92 in the Lemanic region. In 2013, 41 life science companies had their international headquarters (and 29 more their regional headquarters) in Switzerland. In Switzerland, there are about 51,000 workers in the field of

medical technologies Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

(1,600 companies) and 13,700 on the field of

biotechnologies Biotechnology is the integration of Natural science, natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms, cells, parts thereof and molecular analogues for products and services. The te ...

Hubs

Basel region

According to ''

'', there are about 900 pharmaceutical and medtech companies (50,000 workers) in the region of

. Dejan Nikolic, "Les sciences de la vie recrutent à Genève grâce à des ex-employés de Merck Serono", ''

'', Tuesday 21 April 2015, page 13. The region of Zurich, mainly active in

employs 21,000 workers.

Lemanic region

According to ''

L'Hebdo ''L'Hebdo'' was a weekly French-language news magazine published in Lausanne, Switzerland. It existed between 1981 and 2017. History and profile ''L'Hebdo'' was established in 1981. The magazine, based in Lausanne, is part of Ringier and is publ ...

'', there are 750 biotech and medtech companies (20,000 employees) in the Lemanic region.Health Valley
, ''

'', 2010. Among them, 450 companies develop and/or produce drugs. In addition to that, there are 500 laboratories from universities and university hospitals (in the Lemanic region).

Notes and references

Bibliography

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

External links

Interpharma
{{Portal bar, Biology, Medicine, Companies, Switzerland Pharmaceutical companies of Switzerland Industry in Switzerland Switzerland