The life sciences industry 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 5.7% of the gross domestic product of Switzerland and 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 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, Monday 7 July 2014, page 17. 1933: foundation of Interpharma. 1950s: Cilag merged with Janssen Pharmaceutica, into Janssen-Cilag. 1996: Ciba-Geigy merged with Sandoz, with the pharmaceutical and agrochemical divisions of both staying together to form Novartis. Other Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz businesses were sold off, or, like Ciba Specialty Chemicals, 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. 1990: Hoffmann-La Roche owned a majority of Genentech. It was to be completely integrated in 2009. 2000: Novartis divested its agrochemical and genetically modified crops business with the spinout of Syngenta, in partnership with AstraZeneca, which also divested its agrochemical business. 2023: Sandoz spun off from Novartis as a stand-alone company.
Companies A number of life sciences companies are either headquartered in Switzerland or maintain regional headquarters in Switzerland:
Company Location Canton Divisions Abbott Laboratories Basel Established Pharmaceuticals Division AC Immune Lausanne Global headquarters Accuray Morges, International headquarters Acino Holding Zürich Global headquarters Actelion, (Johnson & Johnson) Allschwil Global headquarters Alcon Geneva Global headquarters Alexion Pharmaceuticals Baar International headquarters Amgen Rotkreuz European hub AstraZeneca Baar International headquarters Bachem Bubendorf Global headquarters Basilea Pharmaceutica Allschwil Global headquarters Baxter International Zürich European headquarters Bayer Basel Consumer Health Division, Hemophilia & Ophthalmology Pharma Global HQ Divisions with some Oncology Beckman Coulter Nyon European and emerging markets headquarters Becton Dickinson Eysins European headquarters Bio-Rad Basel European headquarters Biogen Baar International headquarters Biognosys Schlieren Global headquarters Bristol Myers Squibb Boudry Various global functions and global product supply Functions Caris Life Sciences Basel European headquarters Cerbios-Pharma Lugano Global headquarters Cochlear Limited Basel European headquarters Debiopharm Lausanne Global headquarters Edwards Lifesciences Nyon European headquarters Exact Sciences Baar International headquarters Ferring Pharmaceuticals Saint-Prex Pharmaceutical manufacturing site Finox Biotech Kirchberg Global headquarters Galderma Zug Global headquarters Galenica Bern Global headquarters Genedata Basel Global headquarters GlaxoSmithKline Münchenbuchsee Local headquarters Helsinn Lugano Global headquarters Hocoma Volketswil Global headquarters Idorsia Allschwil Global headquarters Incyte Morges European headquarters InSphero Schlieren Global headquarters Intuitive Surgical Aubonne European headquarters Janssen-Cilag, (Johnson & Johnson) Zug Local headquarters Lonza Basel Global headquarters Masimo Neuchâtel International headquarters Medela Baar Global headquarters Medtronic Tolochenaz Europe & Central Asia headquarters Moderna Basel EMEA headquarters Molecular Partners Schlieren Global headquarters MSD Lucerne Local headquarters and pharmaceutical manufacturing site NBE-Therapeutics Basel Global headquarters Neovii Pharmaceuticals Rapperswil Global headquarters NovaCurie Bern Global headquarters Novartis Basel Global headquarters Novimmune Geneva Global headquarters Novo Nordisk Zürich International operations Octapharma Lachen Global headquarters OM Pharma Meyrin Global headquarters Roche Basel Global headquarters Sandoz Basel Global headquarters Santhera Pratteln Global headquarters Seagen Zug European headquarters Senn Chemicals Dielsdorf Global headquarters Siegfried Holding Zofingen, Aargau Global headquarters and manufacturing site Sonova Stäfa, Zürich Global headquarters Sotio Biotech Basel Local subsidiary STAAR Surgical Nidau International headquarters Straumann Basel Global headquarters Takeda Pharmaceutical Zürich Europe & Canada business unit Tecan Männedorf Global headquarters VAXIMM Basel Global headquarters CSL Vifor St. Gallen Global headquarters Ypsomed Holding Burgdorf Global headquarters
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 (page visited on 4 November 2013). Willy Boder, "La Suisse compétitive dans les sciences de la vie", Le Temps, 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 KPMG, there are 120 life science companies in Basel, 132 in 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 (1,600 companies) and 13,700 on the field of biotechnologies.
Hubs Basel region According to Le Temps, there are about 900 pharmaceutical and medtech companies (50,000 workers) in the region of Basel. Dejan Nikolic, "Les sciences de la vie recrutent à Genève grâce à des ex-employés de Merck Serono", Le Temps, Tuesday 21 April 2015, page 13. The region of Zurich, mainly active in medical technologies employs 21,000 workers.
Lemanic region
According to L'Hebdo, there are 750 biotech and medtech companies (20,000 employees) in the Lemanic region. Health Valley , L'Hebdo, 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).
Statistics As of 2023, some 350 companies were active in the pharmaceutical industry in Switzerland.
As of 2024, some 56,000 people work in the pharmaceutical industry, mostly at large multinational companies such as Novartis, Roche or Sandoz. The sector also employs around 250,000 people indirectly.
The pharma industry invests a third of the approximately CHF18 billion into R&D spent by the private sector as a whole (2023).
In 2025, Switzerland exported some CHF100 billion worth of pharma products, or 22% of its total exports by value.
In 2024, Switzerland exported pharma products stood behind of Germany but ahead of the United States in terms of total value.
In 2025, four drugs from Novartis and two from Roche were among the world’s 50 best-selling medicines.
Novartis and Roche have agreed to invest billions of dollars to increase their production in the United States, following tense negociations with the Trump administration in 2026.
See also Economy of Switzerland, List of companies of Switzerland Science and technology in Switzerland European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, List of pharmaceutical companies List of largest European manufacturing companies by revenue, List of largest manufacturing companies by revenue Life Sciences Switzerland Health Valley Healthcare in Switzerland
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