Tagged with Switzerland

Switzerland The Swiss Biotech Association’s Nic Alexakis describes Switzerland’s thriving biotech scene and extensive support infrastructure, while also highlighting the gaps around early stage funding and the ability of different cantons to collaborate on economic development.  Switzerland of course has quite the reputation as a hub for biotech activity – how…

Actelion Johnson & Jonhson’s interest in taking over the Swiss biotech group Actelion has been confirmed, with the Wall Street Journal estimating that a total takeover price could top USD 20 billion. As Actelion is a market leader in some therapeutic areas such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), the acquisition could…

Switzerland Developing manufacturing capacity for as yet unapproved drugs can create huge risk on innovators’ balance sheets, risk which can be mitigated by working instead with a competent CMO – a form of insurance as explained by Siegfried CEO Rudolf Hanko.   The CMO sector has grown faster than the pharma…

Switzerland Specializing in ultra-rare diseases, Alexion targets patient populations of less than 20 patients per million. Christophe Bourdon discusses Alexion’s progress towards developing access for patients across the EMEA region.   Since day one, Alexion’s mission has been to focus solely on discovering treatments for patients affected by these incredibly rare…

Switzerland It is tempting to characterize Switzerland’s global pharma and life science hotspots as beginning and ending with Basel – home of industry giants Roche and Novartis. However, Zurich, Geneva, and even tiny Zug are all now staking serious claims for global recognition in this area. “Zurich is the world’s smallest…

Switzerland Dr. Andrea Michael Meyer, general manager of Sanofi Genzyme Switzerland, reveals how the Swiss business has been experiencing year-on-year double-digit growth; how rare diseases was the foundation of Sanofi Genzyme´s business and remains a key part of their DNA; and how a focus on patient centricity remains at the core…

Switzerland Bernhard Neidhart, head of Office for Economy and Labor in Zug, introduces us to the Canton of Zug and explains how the region became a hotspot for pharma.   To begin Dr. Neidhart, could you please introduce us to the Canton of Zug? How does Zug’s “value proposition” compare to…

Switzerland For the eighth year in a row the World Economic Forum has ranked Switzerland first in both global competitiveness and in innovation; economiesuisse CEO Monika Rühl discusses the main issues which threaten this leading position, and the overall growth prospects for the Swiss economy. To begin, could you please introduce…

Switzerland Dr. André T. Dahinden, General Manager of Amgen Switzerland, talks about their four cutting-edge products that will help drive future growth, reveals how being innovative includes partnering with payers for improved pricing models, and why the Swiss healthcare environment is like the Swiss railway system: well organized, punctual and reliable.…

Switzerland Michael Cobas Meyer of Eli Lilly Switzerland reveals how these are very exciting times for the company, particularly given an extremely rich pipeline in the areas of diabetes, oncology and bio-medicines; how the challenge will be to transition from their existing portfolio to new products; and why Lilly´s focus is…

Switzerland Walter P. Hölzle, president of vips, discusses the current priorities of the association, the importance of innovation, and the challenges of the current pricing system. While growth is close to zero for many pharmaceutical markets in Europe, Swiss pharma spending increased 4.5 percent in 2015. What would you identify as…

Switzerland Kari Sarvanto introduces Primex, an innovative fast-growing company spearheading a new pharmaceutical business model, strongly focusing on anesthesiology. He talks about entrepreneurship, innovation and new ways of achieving success in the pharmaceutical business today. Primex calls itself ‘an innovative and fast-growing company spearheading a new pharmaceutical business model’. What exactly…