Biotechnology sector posts record turnover and R&D investments
Biotechnology sector posts record turnover and R&D investments
(Berlin - June 9, 2022) In 2021, turnover and spending on research and development (R&D) in the German biotechnology sector soared. With a 279 percent increase in turnover (€26.32 billion) and a 54 percent increase in R&D investments (€3.84 billion), new records were set. The main reason for the new records is the success of vaccine developer BioNTech, but the company CureVac is also making a significant contribution to the growth in R&D investment with its vaccine research. This is the result of a survey of 750 private biotech companies published today by the biotechnology industry association BIO Deutschland, as well as data from the 24 German listed companies. At 16 percent, the increase in jobs is also large, although here the increase is similar for both private (13 percent) and listed (20 percent) companies, in contrast to turnover and R&D investment. However, the number of companies in Germany is stagnating, as it did in 2020.
Oliver Schacht, CEO of BIO Deutschland, comments on the results: "The key figures for our industry in 2021 are really impressive. The growth is largely due to the vaccine developers BioNTech and CureVac. We have the chance to become a leading international biotechnology location, as stated in the coalition agreement. But to achieve this, we need more lighthouses and growth that builds on many companies. We can only achieve this if politicians act now and create suitable framework conditions for the entire sector. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have understandably shifted many priorities. But I think technological sovereignty in cutting-edge biotechnology must definitely not fall by the wayside now."
"It's great how our industry is growing. The private companies also have a considerable 15 percent increase in turnover," adds the association's managing director, Viola Bronsema. "Nevertheless, these good figures should not obscure the fact that well-known challenges in starting a company, growth, establishment and licensing still exist and not only with regard to companies in medical biotechnology. The many start-ups in the novel food sector, which use biotechnology to develop sustainable alternatives to milk, fish, meat and cocoa, for example, also need suitable framework conditions so that they can grow and provide consumers with innovative sustainable products. Here we would like to see more pragmatism and agility from policymakers."
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About BIO Deutschland:
BIO Deutschland e. V., with more than 360 members – companies, BioRegions and industry service providers – and headquartered in Berlin, Germany, aims to support and promote the development of an innovative economic sector in Germany based on modern life sciences. Oliver Schacht, Ph. D., is chairman of the board of BIO Deutschland.
For further information, visit www.biodeutschland.org
Supporting members of BIO Deutschland and industry partners are:
AGC Biologics, Avia, AWS, Baker Tilly, Bayer, BioSpring, Boehringer Ingelheim, Centogene, Clariant, CMS Hasche Sigle, Deutsche Bank, Ernst & Young, Evotec, Janssen-Cilag, KPMG, Lonza, Merck, Miltenyi Biotec, MorphoSys, Novartis, Pfizer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, QIAGEN, Rentschler Biopharma, Roche Diagnostics, Sanofi Aventis Deutschland, SAP, Schmidt Versicherungs Treuhand AG, Simmons & Simmons, Springer Nature, Thermo Fisher Scientific, TVM Life Sciences Management, Vertex Pharmaceuticals, ZETA.
Contact:
BIO Deutschland e. V.
Dr Claudia Englbrecht
Schützenstraße 6a
10117 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 30 2332 164-32
Mobile: +49 151 1406 7326
Email: englbrecht@biodeutschland.org
Publication free of charge – specimen copy requested.
