Swiss Biotech Day shows great biopharma ambitions

The Swiss biotech industry is not letting the COVID 19 pandemic slow it down – this was shown at the first live Swiss Biotech Day since the beginning of the pandemic. "Although the pandemic caused raw material bottlenecks, delays in funding and clinical trials for innovative biotech companies in particular, three times as much was invested in Swiss biotech companies in 2000 than in the previous year," explained Michael Altorfer, CEO of the Swiss Biotech Association (SBA) to 850 visitors. Accordingly, there was high spirits among the exhibitors and officially 850 visitors at the live event hosted by the SBA and organised by BIOCOM AG at the Congress Centre Basel.

The positive development seems to be continuing this year. "There is enough money in the market," Jürg Zurcher, partner and co-author of the Swiss Biotech Report at EY, told European Biotechnology when asked about the current development of the Swiss biotech industry this year.

According to the Swiss Biotech Report, the investment volume in 2000, driven by IPOs and capital increases of listed companies such as CRISPR Therapeutics, Indorsia, ADC Therapeutics, Basilea and Molecular Partners as well as large financing rounds of private companies such as VectivBio Therapeutics, SOPHIA Genetics or NoemaPharma, amounted to a whopping CHF3.4bn – three times as much as in 2019. And that is without reflecting the impact of the pandemic, which will only be reflected in the current year. In addition, R&D investments rose by 22% in 2020 and the export quota scratched the CHF 100 billion mark, also a record. A site selection report by KMPG presented at Swiss Biotech Day and high interest from US and Asian investors point to Switzerland as a top biopharma cluster in Europe. Not least in COVID-19 therapeutics, Swiss companies like Molecular Partners could play a crucial role: A Darpin that is expected to prevent the emergence of variants by binding no less than three targets in the spike protein is in phase III testing.

Furthermore, Switzerland, whose life science ecosystem of about 1,000 companies (including about 314 private biotech developers) and excellent academic research has led the global innovation index for years, will continue to expand into the biopharma market. Not only the use of artificial intelligence in the development of innovative biologics formats (such as by the antibody start-up DeepCDR) played a role alongside presentations by small and large biotech players: after the mRNA vaccine technology was validated by the market approval of mRNA vaccines during the pandemic, Switzerland now wants to become the top global production location for mRNA vaccines, but also for RNA-based drugs based on RNA interference, gene scissors CRISPR or antisense technology.

Especially in mRNA biomanufacturing, Lonza has "built up the necessary know-how through the partnership with Moderna", explained Lonza Chairman Albert Bähny in Basel. According to ex-EFPL boss Patrick Aebischer, the advantages such as miscibility of different mRNAs and low production and CAPEX  costs are obvious. The task now is to establish a production pipeline in Switzerland in which research, public-private partnerships and contract manufacturers producing on a commercial scale work together seamlessly. BACHEM CEO Thomas Meier emphasised that the small-scale approach observed in the wake of the COVID 19 pandemic must be abandoned in favour of a global orientation and marketing of innovative active ingredient formats, such as peptides.

In this respect, the location has some advantages over neighbouring countries such as Germany, which has similar ambitions, first and foremost a well-functioning financing network, which was only supplemented in July by a new SIX stock exchange segment called Sparks and will initially cover the financing needs of Swiss biotechs.

Together with the antibody manufacturer Esbatech, acquired from Novartis, Novimmune, Basilea Pharmaceutica, Lonza and Bachem received the Swiss Success Story Award at the Swiss Biotech Day. In order to international investors the potential that already exists in Switzerland, the SBA recently launched the online portal Swiss Biotech Ventures.