German Drug Industry Regains Lost Ground

Research-based pharmaceutical companies are intensifying theirinvestments in Germany, according to Cornelia Yzer, executive director of the federation of research-based drug majors, the VFA, on the occasion of the presentation of its brochure Statistics '97 in Bonn earlier this month.

Investment by research-based drug companies went up 11.7% in 1996 to 1.8 billion Deutschemarks ($1.04 billion), while investment in drug R&D rose 62.5% to 416 million marks. R&D staff increased by 3.1% last year and, said Dr Yzer, the rundown of the workforce in VFA member companies stopped for the first time since 1993.

Germany Sustaining Its Position In Drug Innovation She added that the rising employment and investment of VFA member companies in Germany demonstrate that important steps have been made to sustain the position of Germany as a significant location for the development and production of innovative drugs. However, there remains some catching-up to do, notably in the area of genetically-engineered drugs.