Swiss biotech sector still growing strongly

The biotechnology sector in Switzerland is growing more strongly than it has done for years. According to the Swiss Biotech Report that was published yesterday at the Swiss Biotech Day, the 281 companies posted a turnover of CHF 5,730 million in 2016. This is a strong increase of nearly 12%. It is gratifying to see how the revenues achieved from the sale of products and services are now distributed among more companies than in the previous year. This shows that the biotech sector in Switzerland has become more strongly established. The number of employees in the industry has increased as well, from 14,890 in 2015 to 15,362 in 2016. 12 new companies have been founded.

According to the report three companies went public. These three IPOs combined collected more than CHF200 million. AC Immune was the most successful IPO of a European biotech company in 2016.

The prospects are also looking good. The Swiss biotech sector is among the very best in the world in terms of market penetration and the technological relevance of its patents. At the same time the number of patents is on the rise, firstly because more intensive research is being carried out in established fields, and secondly because various technologies are being combined to form new fields of research. But patents are always just the first step on the path to successful, marketable innovations. It is therefore important to note that the product pipelines of Swiss biotech firms are also well filled, promising stable further development in the sector.

During his presentation of the report Jürg Zürcher, Partner and EMEIA Biotechnology Leader at EY, also mention the acquisition of Actelion. On 26 January 2017, the US life sciences giant Johnson & Johnson announced its decision to acquire the European biotech star Actelion in an all-cash acquisition with a deal value of USD 30 billion. This transaction will include the planned spin-off of the Actelion R&D unit in a new and independent, SIX-listed company called Idorsia. Jürg Zürcher commented: “The solution with the new research focused company staying in the Basel area is an ideal solution for Switzerland.”

The Swiss Biotech Report was presented at the Swiss Biotech Day 2017. More than 500 managers, experts and scientists gathered for the event – another record number. Apart from talks by scientists, represenatives of big corporations and pitches of 15 start-ups, Dominik Escher, President Swiss Biotech Association, spoke in his talk about the environment for Swiss Biotech companies. He mentioned several challenges: taxes, conditions for clinical trials in Switzerland and lack of funding for early stage start-ups. Another challenge is that the power and performance of the Swiss biotech industry is not well known to the broader public. All these topics will be now addressed by the association.

(SK)

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