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Swiss Biotech Report 2015

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Swiss Biotech Report 2015 Swiss Biotech Report 2015 Impressum Steering committee Domenico Alexakis, Swiss Biotech Association, Zürich Seraina Benz, SIX Swiss Exchange AG, Zürich Oreste Ghisalba, CTI, Bern Jan Lucht, scienceindustries, Zürich Liv Minder, Switzerland Global Enterprise, Zürich Heinz Müller, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, Bern Swiss National Science Foundation, Bern Andrea von Bartenwerffer, SIX Swiss Exchange AG, Zürich Jürg Zürcher, Ernst & Young AG, Basel Further partners Daniel Gygax, biotechnet, Muttenz Concept, layout and design sherif ademi | kommunikationsdesign, Schlieren Scan the QR code to download the Swiss Biotech Report 2015. www.swissbiotechreport.ch Publicly traded Swiss biotech companies 3500 in CHF million 3061 2918 2012 3000 2843 2013 2014 2500 2064 1955 Source: Annual Reports, 2000 1852 website information and EY 1500 1000 728 691 678 525 500 374 233 0 –500 Revenues R&D expenses Profits/losses Liquidity Privately held Swiss biotech companies 2500 in CHF million 2012 2000 2013 1799 1826 1824 2014 1500 Source: EY 1000 848 725 673 650 606 602 500 –68 –63 –98 0 Revenues R&D expenses Profits/losses Liquidity –500 Cover Picture: Picture courtesy of Jürg Zürcher © View from Schynige Platte on “Ussri Sägissa” and “Winteregg”. 31 Table of contents Editorial 4 International relationships – Made in Switzerland 5 International cooperation a prerequisite to research 7 Switzerland 2i – innovation and internationalism 8 Short outline of CTI’s national and international activities 9 Patent literature reflects international focus of Swiss biotech 11 Global network and local production drive success 13 Switzerland: strategic business location for life sciences 14 Gearing up for growth: Molecular Partners powers Swiss biotechs’ rise 15 Year in review 19 Swiss biotech at a glance 28 Facts & figures 29 3 Editorial Switzerland’s success has been built on a combination of inter- nationalism and ‘Swissness’. Ideas become innovation through the open-mindedness of the Swiss people. From tourism to life sciences, many economic ventures started with brainstorming and evolved through the sharing of thoughts and ideas with visitors from abroad who enjoy the Swiss countryside and engage with local people. Biotechnology is a truly global industry. In recent decades, Switzerland has harvested success by managing to balance the creativity, investment and discipline that, if well executed, natu- rally lead to innovation. This 2015 edition of the Swiss Biotech Report explains how and why Switzerland is so well positioned internationally. All of the contributions and contributors have as their goal the further strengthening of the biotech industry and the ecosystem of research and economy. The biotechnology sector is a prime example of what ‘Swissness’ stands for and what Switzerland can deliver internationally. The steering committee Domenico Alexakis Seraina Benz Oreste Ghisalba Jan Lucht Liv Minder Heinz Müller Andrea von Bartenwerffer Jürg Zürcher 4 International relationships – Made in Switzerland Switzerland takes up just 0.01% of the earth’s land mass and Driving growth makes up just 0.1% of the world population! Despite this, Swit- To better understand this success story for Switzerland in general zerland is the worldʼs 19th largest economy measured by nomi- and life sciences in particular, one only needs to look at the expe- nal GDP, the 8th largest in terms of GDP per capita and the 36th rience of the Swiss Biotech Report partners. Their contributions largest in terms of purchasing power parity. to this report add a narrative to the facts and in doing so highlight the liberal entrepreneurial spirit that illuminates Swiss research Being a smaller country Switzerland has to look beyond its bor- and delivers the ‘Made in Switzerland’ economic success. ders. An eye for exports and a commitment to international rela- tionships have contributed to its becoming the world’s 15th larg- Multinationals drive prosperity est exporter of goods. Between 2005 and 2013 exports doubled Switzerland is home to several large multinational corporations on the back of strong growth in the sales of precision engineer- which provide services and produce various goods for export. ing, chemicals and pharmaceutical and biotech products. The And some of the largest Swiss companies such as Nestlé, chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech industry accounted for Novartis, Syngenta or Roche are active within life sciences and 41% of total Swiss exports in 2014, making it Switzerlandʼs largest act globally.For many of these multinationals, Switzerland is the export sector. 83% of these exports were contributed by pharma- hub of their global network of R&D collaborations and manufac- ceuticals, with a significant proportion of biotech products. turing sites. Find out from the Swiss business association for chemistry, Figure 1: Proportion of total Swiss exports 2014 pharma biotech – scienceindustries – what makes Switzerland so attractive when it comes to the production of high-value 1% Chemicals, pharma- biotech goods. >> page 13 11% ceuticals, biotech 4% Economy and finances Metals and machinery Switzerland is primarly a private-sector economy with low tax 11% 41% Watches rates by Western standards. It is a relatively easy place to do Food and tobacco business, currently ranked 28th out of 178 countries in the Ease Textiles and clothing of Doing Business Index. And the slow growth that Switzerland ex- Other products perienced in the 1990s and the early 2000s has brought greater 32% support for economic reforms and harmonization with the EU. Source: scienceindustries 2015 The life sciences industry has special economic significance in The pharmaceutical trade balance of key countries dem- Switzerland. It makes up more than a third of the total market onstrates the importance of the Swiss life sciences industry for capitalization of the SIX Swiss Exchange and Switzerland’s pub- the Swiss economy itself but also as global provider. licly listed life science companies account for approximately 40% of the life sciences market capitalization across Europe’s Figure 2: Pharmaceutical trade balance 2012 1 major stock exchanges. in CHF mio 37,755 With the IPO of Molecular Partners in November 2014, SIX Swiss 35,000 Exchange has welcomed another biotech firm to its life science 30,000 cluster. One of the most striking aspects of this IPO was the high 25,000 24,127 21,501 demand recorded in the domestic investor base. Check out the 20,000 SIX Swiss Exchange report for greater insights into local inves- 15,000 tors’ appetite for biotech stocks >> page 15 10,000 8,406 7,883 5,351 The Swiss biotech landscape is also a very good soil for venture 5,000 3,144 2,225 1,092 capitalists and other industry-focused investors. Therefore, it is 0 not surprising that Swiss biotech companies are able to contin- -5,000 -2,541 uously attract new funds, as demonstrated in the E&Y facts and -10,000 figures. >> page 29 -15,000 -20,000 -19,032 -25,000 -22,469 CH IR DE BE GB FR NL DK AT IT JP US Source: Interpharma, based on 1 According to SITC 54 Classication. UN Comtrade database, 2014 5 Education and research Biotechnet is a network of academic institutions that regularly Education in Switzerland is very diverse because the Swiss con- holds international courses. Find out how it supports the trans- stitution delegates authority for the school system to the can- fer of knowledge to fresh young talent and helps to identify new tons. Education and research account for about 11% of the fed- specialists for companies at home. >> page 8 eral budget before national defense and agriculture. However, industry contributes the most to research funding. Successful high-tech companies, such as those in life sciences, depend on the recovery of high product development costs. There are both public and private (including international) And this pushes them, rather early on in their development, to- schools in Switzerland. The starting age for primary school is wards internationalization with the goal of increasing turnover about six years, but most cantons provide a free ‘childrenʼs and thereby recovering investments. school’ from four to five years of age. Traditionally, the first for- eign language taught in school was one of the other national Switzerland has one of the highest biotech patent outputs per languages but since 2000 a number of cantons have introduced capita in the world and the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual English first. Property is a critical partner in this process. Find out why Swiss biotech companies are so well protected and the reasons for the The Swiss Confederation, the cantons and professional organi- strong internationalization of the Swiss biotech sector. >> page 11 sations all contribute to the high standard of vocational educa- tion and training. Around two-thirds of young people in Swit- Figure 3: Distribution of biotech patent applications per capita zerland benefit from this solid foundation. Swiss tertiary-level in the world. education is comprehensive. Switzerland has 10 cantonal uni- versities (kantonale Universtitäten), two federal institutes of technology (ETH Zürich and EPF Lausanne), universities of applied sciences (Fachhochschulen), teacher training colleges (pädagogische Hochschulen) and various specialised institu- tions. (www.sbfi.admin.ch). Switzerland has a reputation for being a leading player in re- search and innovation. This is regularly reflected in its high ranking in innovation surveys. One of the government’s goals is to guarantee that researchers
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