pharmaceutical industry in switzerland pharmaceutical industry in switzerland the pharmaceutical industry in switzerland directly and indirectly employs about 135,000 people. it contributes to 5.7% of the gross domestic product of switzerland and contributes to 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. one of the many buildings of novartis in basel the headquarters of roche diagnostics in rotkreuz, switzerland the headquarters of actelion in allschwil 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. 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. companies a number of pharmaceutical companies are headquartered in switzerland: hoffmann-la roche: basel novartis: basel alcon: geneva bayer: basel (consumer health division, hemophilia & ophthalmology pharma global hq divisions with some oncology) lonza group: basel abbott: basel (established pharmaceuticals division) galenica: bern actelion (johnson & johnson): basel janssen-cilag (johnson & johnson) sonova: stäfa galderma: zug ferring pharmaceuticals: saint-prex octapharma: lachen, switzerland vifor pharma: st.gallen straumann: basel tecan: männedorf siegfried holding: zofingen medela: baar acino holding: zurich ypsomed: burgdorf om pharma: meyrin basilea pharmaceutica: basel debiopharm: lausanne genedata: basel bachem: basel molecular partners: zurich senn chemicals: dielsdorf nbe-therapeutics: basel santhera: basel ac immune: lausanne idorsia: basel vaximm: basel cerbios-pharma: lugano finox biotech: kirchberg helsinn: lugano novimmune: geneva neovii pharmaceuticals: rapperswill biognosys: zurich insphero: schlieren novacurie: bern additionally, several non-domestic pharmaceutical companies have regional headquarters in switzerland, including: accuray: morges (international headquarters) alexion pharmaceuticals: zurich (emea headquarters) amgen: rotkreuz (european hub) baxter international: zurich (european headquarters) beckman coulter: nyon (european and emerging markets headquarters) becton dickinson: eysins (european headquarters) biogen: baar (international headquarters) bio-rad: basel (european headquarters) caris life sciences: basel (european headquarters) bristol myers squibb: boudry cochlear limited: basel (european headquarters) edwards lifesciences: nyon (european headquarters) exact sciences: geneva (international operations) incyte: morges (european headquarters) intuitive surgical: aubonne (european headquarters) masimo: neuchatel (international headquarters) medtronic: tolochenaz (europe & central asia headquarters) novo nordisk: zurich (international operations) seagen: zug (european headquarters) staar surgical: nidau (international headquarters) sotio biotech ag (european hub) takeda pharmaceutical: zurich (europe & canada business unit) finally, other companies with relevant international activities in switzerland are: glaxosmithkline merck group life sciences 70% of the investments in life sciences in europe are made in the united kingdom, germany, ireland, the netherlands, france, and switzerland. 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. the region of zurich, mainly active in medical technologies employs 21,000 workers. lemanic region the former headquarters of merck serono in geneva, which now hosts the campus biotech according to l'hebdo, there are 750 biotech and medtech companies (20,000 employees) in the lemanic region. 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).