Swiss Biotech Day

Switzerland is one of the most attractive locations for biotech companies and benefits from a sustained high influx of capital. At the same time, Switzerland has good prerequisites to further expand its strong position in the production of complex biopharmaceuticals, as demonstrated by the most important biotech congress in Switzerland through numerous lectures, presentations, and discussions.

As part of Swiss Biotech Day, KPMG presents its latest report "Site Selection of Life Sciences Companies in Europe." The study analyzes the attractiveness of European countries for pharmaceutical, biotech, and medtech companies. "Switzerland is an attractive location in key comparison categories such as cluster size, attractiveness for qualified employees, and competitive taxes. However, the EU is also investing heavily in expanding the life sciences industry. Therefore, competition for investments and talent will continue to increase," explains André Guedel, an expert in site evaluation at KPMG Switzerland. When choosing a location for biotech companies, economic indicators such as overall competitiveness and innovation capacity, the financing environment, or the size of the talent pool are decisive, along with quality of life and general work-life balance, existing infrastructure, and political stability.

World leader with a long list of successes

Thanks to this excellent environment, but also due to persistent efforts, continuous research, and enormous innovation capacity, the Swiss biotech industry has been at the world’s forefront for years. Together with the pharmaceutical industry, it accounts for more than 40 percent of Swiss exports.

Having gained public interest through the Covid pandemic, the biotech industry is highly regarded by investors. "By July 2021, investors had put around 2 billion Swiss francs into Swiss biotech companies. 80 percent of this was raised through publicly listed companies and at stock exchanges. In the first seven months of this year alone, five Swiss biotech companies successfully went public," says Jürg Zürcher, an expert and EY Senior Advisor in the field of biotechnology, who presents an update on this year's Swiss Biotech Report.

How broad the industry's success is supported by success stories such as Bachem, Basilea, Esbatech, Lonza, or Novimmune, which are awarded a "Swiss Biotech Success Stories Award" at Swiss Biotech Day. Among others, Roger Nitsch, CEO of Neurimmune, explains in his lecture the important role Switzerland plays in developing new active substances like Aducanumab. Aducanumab was recently approved by the American drug authority FDA for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease and was discovered by the Swiss company in collaboration with the University of Zurich. It is marketed by Biogen and is to be produced in Luterbach, Solothurn.

International collaboration as the key to success

That Switzerland is among the giants in biotechnology is currently evident in its important contribution to combating the Covid pandemic. However, as Michael Altorfer, CEO of the Swiss Biotech Association, emphasizes: "The successes in developing new vaccines, implementing various testing options, and the increasing diversity of therapeutic possibilities are ultimately the result of outstanding international collaboration."

Paradoxically, this collaboration is now under significant pressure at the height of its success: various countries have realized how dependent they are on global supply chains, which have proven to be politically influenceable under time and demand pressures. Many countries wish to become more independent in the development and production of active substances for their own supply and to establish their own supply chains. Retreating to national supply chains and isolated national research programs would be a massive setback for globally interconnected research. In contrast, Switzerland, with its small domestic demand, has the opportunity to further strengthen its position in pharmaceutical manufacturing for the world.

Switzerland as a global producer of biopharmaceuticals and innovative therapies

Swiss location advantages such as international networking, highly qualified talent, political stability, and neutrality, along with quality standards, reliability, and the ability to grow, are utilized not only by multinational corporations for the in-house production of highly complex biopharmaceuticals and products in the field of novel gene and cell therapies. Companies that produce on behalf of others, such as Lonza, Bachem, Siegfried, Dottikon, and Celonic, also demonstrate the potential to produce for global demand. "The Swiss biotech and pharma industry covers the entire value chain and has considerable—and growing—production capacities. For example, Merck invested over 400 million Swiss francs in new production capacities in Switzerland in the past two years, Biogen more than 1 billion in Luterbach, and Lonza built three new vaccine production lines in Visp," emphasizes Michael Altorfer.

Well prepared for the future

The conclusion remains that Switzerland is well prepared for the future. In addition to expanding industrial parks and production facilities, Switzerland has a broad commitment to strong patent protection, a well-stocked product pipeline, and a vibrant startup scene, which has significantly contributed to industry growth, as Jordi Montserrat, CEO of Venturelab, confirms at Swiss Biotech Day: "Venturelab and Venture Kick alumni in life sciences are among the biggest Swiss success stories in this area and have attracted several billion Swiss francs in investments."