Drug industry exports: a quarter of Swiss total

Switzerland's research-based pharmaceutical association, Interpharma, has released data indicating that a quarter of the country's exports are accounted for by drugs. In 2007, the group reports that exports of medicines reached 51.0 billion Swiss francs ($50.05 billion) and that the sector employed 34,000 people in 2006, with 118,000 jobs dependent on drugmakers and ancilliary services.

The growth rate for the Swiss pharmaceutical market for the 2006-2007 period was 6.5%, from 4.2 billion francs to 4.5 billion francs. It is therefore notable that Swiss production of medicines is overwhelmingly export-oriented - which is not surprising, given that two of the leading research-based drug majors, Novartis and Roche, are headquartered in that country.

The Interpharma's 15th edition of the annual study: Medicines Market in Switzerland, also provides figures showing the importance of generic drugs. The rate of substitution from branded drugs to copycats in Swiss pharmacies has reached about two thirds (67%), which the drug industry group states is "clearly higher than the European average." Prices, both ex-factory and retail, for the top 200 prescribed items in Switzerland are cheaper than in Germany, despite the reference price control system in the latter country (Marketletters passim).