While the spotlight was on Covid-related projects (such as cloning of the virus, diagnostic development or vaccine production), Switzerland and Swiss biotech companies have not neglected other unmet medical needs and continued to invest heavily to expand their R&D and manufacturing infrastructure. According to the report, investors contributed new funds at record levels to advance the promising pipeline of the Swiss biotech hub. In total, R&D investments increased by 10% to CHF 2.2 billion.

The 2021 report highlights Switzerland’s role in responding to the pandemic through basic research (e.g. cloning and 3D structure of the virus), vaccine manufacture and component supply (e.g. Lonza, Bachem, Janssen Cilag), diagnostics (e.g. Roche, Quotient, Ender, Mosaiq, Biolytix) and therapeutics (Humabs Biomed/Vir Biotechnologies, Molecular Partners/Novartis). "While the pandemic highlighted the importance of the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors, a note of caution may be warranted as many companies suffered significant delays in their R&D pipeline. Nonetheless, we are confident that the sector will continue its impressive expansion," commented Michael Altorfer, CEO of the Swiss Biotech Association.

"2020 was clearly an exceptional year. Investor interest was demonstrated by record levels of financing and the creation of new biotech-specific investment funds such as Pureos Bioventures and Bernina Bioinvest. It was encouraging that Swissmedic approved 42 new drugs in 2020, which was one third more than the 29 approvals for innovative new drugs in 2019," added Jürg Zürcher, Partner and Biotechnology Leader Germany, Switzerland, Austria at EY.

Key Findings

Swiss biotechs raised a total of CHF 3.44 billion – their best year ever. CHF 2.7 billion were invested in public companies including ADC Therapeutics with CHF 470 million (IPO and follow on), CRISPR Therapeutics (CHF 940 million), Idorsia (CHF 866 million), Molecular Partners (CHF 80 million), and Basilea (CHF 125 million). The biggest portion of the private capital was raised by VectivBio Holding (CHF 135 million), SOPHiA Genetics (CHF 100 million), and the newly founded company Noema Pharma (CHF 54 million).

The report shows that the Swiss biotech industry generated revenues of CHF 4.5 billion, compared to CHF 4.8 billion in 2019. This drop in revenues was mainly due to favorable one-time events in 2019 which didn’t recur in 2020. Nevertheless, biotechs selling marketed products/services continued to increase their revenues.

2020 saw Swiss companies involved in a large number of mergers and acquisitions and collaborations. Several Swiss biotech companies were acquired in 2020 by either (big) pharma or other biotech companies: Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Roivant Sciences completed their strategic alliance with the formation of a new company, Sumitovant Biopharma in a deal worth $3 billion, Genkyotex announced the closing of the acquisition by Calliditas, and Boehringer Ingelheim acquired NBE-Therapeutics for €1.2 billion. The sector was successful not only on the financing front, but also in the area of collaborations and licensing arrangements. Many successful new partnerships were established in 2020, including BC Platforms’ partnership with Dante Labs to build Europe’s largest next generation sequencing laboratory.

The Swiss Biotech Report 2021 is available at swissbiotech.org/report.