Swiss Biotech Report 2025 highlights sector’s continuing resilience through commitment to international alliances

During 2024, Switzerland’s biotech sector continued to demonstrate resilience despite significant financial and market challenges. Revenues remained strong at CHF 7.2 billion, while R&D investment grew to CHF 2.6 billion. Especially encouraging was the rise in private company investment which accounted for a record CHF 833 million of the total CHF 2.5 billion raised. Public companies also posted several noteworthy successes. Overall employment grew, particularly in the expanding Swiss CDMO business. The 2025 edition of the Swiss Biotech Report, launched today by the Swiss Biotech Association together with EY and eight other partner organizations, provides an analysis of 2024 biotech funding as well as other key 2024 metrics and statistics compared to previous years. The theme of the Swiss Biotech Report 2025 ‘The power of international alliances’ highlights how Switzerland continues to foster such alliances across all levels of the global life sciences ecosystem – from research and development to manufacturing and regulatory harmonization – benefiting the entire industry.

Michael Altorfer, CEO, Swiss Biotech Association, commented: «In an era when isolationist policies and "me-first“ approaches have gained traction, Switzerland’s collaborative model offers a compelling counterproposal. None of the Swiss biotech innovators develops a new product or technology for the Swiss market alone. Switzerland has a long tradition of developing innovative products in close collaboration with strong international partners, thereby providing effective solutions to global challenges. This approach is so firmly anchored in the Swiss biotech hub that four out of five biotech patents filed in Switzerland are the result of international collaboration. At the same time, Switzerland has assembled a diverse and international talent pool that strongly facilitates global exchange of experience and best practices.»

Frederik Schmachtenberg, EY Partner and Global Life Sciences Lead for Financial Accounting Advisory Services, added: «Despite difficult headwinds, Swiss biotech companies were able to raise more than 2.5 billion Swiss francs in funds, an increase of 22 percent over 2023. Most impressive was the success of private companies in 2024, as record funds of 833 million Swiss francs were raised, and record 1.4 billion Swiss francs were invested in R&D projects. At the same time, these companies showed strong revenues of 2 billion Swiss francs, an increase of 10 percent compared to 2023.»

Key Findings in the 2025 Swiss Biotech Report
Overall revenues generated by the Swiss biotech industry remained strong, dipping only slightly to CHF 7.2 billion in 2024. Swiss biotech companies continued to successfully partner with large pharma companies, including AC Immune with Takeda, Idorsia with Viatris, Haya with Lilly, and Basilea with Innoviva. Product sales were similarly boosted by a record number of approvals from Swissmedic, EMA, FDA and other global regulatory authorities for companies, including breakthrough advanced therapies from Idorsia, Basilea and Santhera.

Public markets remained challenging, although CRISPR Therapeutics, a Swiss biotech that went public in 2016 secured a USD 280 million (CHF 247 million) follow-on financing round to support ongoing clinical trials in oncology, cardiovascular, and diabetes indications, and to further expand its autoimmune and gene writing programs. However, the private funding environment was more encouraging, with Alentis Therapeutics (CHF 163 million raised) and SixPeaks Bio (CHF 102 million raised) as the top two private financing rounds.

In M&A, the standout events were Johnson & Johnson’s purchase of Yellow Jersey, a demerged subsidiary of Numab, for USD 1.25 billion, and Lonza’s acquisition of Roche’s Vacaville biologics site in the US for USD 1.2 billion.
The increased need for talent by CDMO companies and the success of private biotech R&D companies have led to further employment growth of around 8% – a testament to the depth of the talent pool. As another significant indicator of the sector’s robustness, R&D investment continued to grow to CHF 2.6 billion, with a record CHF 1.4 billion accounted for by private companies.

The 2025 Swiss Biotech Report also underscores the ‘Power of international alliances’ with two key examples: In 2025, the Swiss innovation agency Innosuisse assumes the chair of the Eureka innovation initiative - a network of 47 countries plus the European Commission - to help strengthen and expand non-dilutive global research grants. Swissmedic, Switzerland’s regulatory agency, continues to play a leading role in the Access Consortium, facilitating joint approvals across Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Singapore, and the UK.

Global Village and Swiss Biotech Success Stories Awards for outstanding achievements
The Swiss Biotech Report 2025 was launched at the Swiss Biotech Day, May 5-6, 2025 in Basel, which attracted around 3,000 delegates. One contributing factor is the Global Village, a platform hosted by the Swiss Biotech Association in partnership with other organizations to encourage worldwide networking and collaboration in biotech and life sciences. In just two years, the Global Village has already grown from 10 to 25 international delegations.
To recognize outstanding achievements, the Swiss Biotech Association presented the Swiss Biotech Success Stories Awards to:

Dr. Dr. h.c. Henri B. Meier is an entrepreneurial leader who after working at the World Bank, became finance director at Roche where, having masterminded the recovery from the patent loss for Valium, he catapulted them into becoming one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies. Following official retirement in 2000, he has founded multiple venture funds, foundations, professorships and start-ups, including the Swiss Future Fund.

Dr. Pascale Vonmont is CEO and Director of the Gebert Rüf Stiftung, Switzerland’s largest private science and innovation foundation. For over 25 years, Dr. Pascale Vonmont has been a driving force in advancing innovation and entrepreneurship. As a passionate bridge-builder between science, business, and society, she is committed to accelerating knowledge transfer and ensuring that groundbreaking research translates into real-world applications.

The Swiss Biotech Report 2025
The Swiss Biotech Report sheds light on the most important trends, factors and sources of innovation, and summarizes topics and facts on the development of the Swiss biotech industry. This year’s theme is ‘The Power of Global Alliances’.

The Swiss Biotech Report Steering Committee

• Michael Altorfer, Swiss Biotech Association
• Frederik Schmachtenberg, EY
• Florian Fisch, Swiss National Science Foundation
• Jan Lucht, scienceindustries
• Hans-Peter Meyer, Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences
• Christian Moser Nikles, Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property
• Jörg Schläpfer, Swissmedic
• Laura Suter-Dick, biotechnet Switzerland
• Sirpa Tsimal, Switzerland Global Enterprise