Swiss pharmaceutical boss warns: “Security of supply is a problem in Switzerland today”
The price pressure on medicines is slowing down production in Switzerland. This is also shown by the case of the Swiss pharmaceutical company Ibsa. That’s why it helped develop the popular initiative “On Medical Care Security”, which will be submitted on Thursday.
If the knee cracks, there is Condrosulf. Daily, forever. And since quite a few knees crack in Switzerland, but also worldwide, there is great demand for the white tablets that come from the kitchen of one of the largest owner-managed pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland. Ibsa is based in Ticino, not far from Lugano. From there it sells its medicines through 20 subsidiaries and numerous sales offices in around 90 countries.
The drug Condrosulf: The “blockbuster” from Ibsa in Switzerland.
Image: zvg
The drugs are largely developed and produced in Ticino itself and partly in China and Italy. Production in the southern neighboring country has been expanding since 2015, since the year when the Swiss National Bank dropped the minimum euro exchange rate of 1.20 francs. The calculation no longer worked out given the high Swiss production costs and the low European prices, explains the head of the Swiss unit, Maleša Sidjanski, in an on-site interview.
The price problem still concerns Sidjanski today. Manufacturing costs would rise and energy and raw material prices would become more expensive. “But this is not taken into account in the foreign price comparison imposed by the federal government every three years.” This in turn has consequences for the company: “Our margin is falling.” And for the country: “Domestic production is at risk and with it the security of supply of medicines in Switzerland.”
Maleša Sidjanski, head of Ibsa Switzerland.
Image: Peter Klaunzer / KEYSTONE
As early as 2016, Sidjanski founded an interest group with like-minded pharmaceutical companies in Switzerland, a network that intensified contact during the pandemic and even launched a popular initiative “On medical supply security” in spring 2023. It will now be submitted to the Federal Chancellery on Thursday. “Security of supply is a problem in Switzerland today,” says Sidjanski. “There is already a lack of 1,200 medications.”
The initiative, which is also supported by the medical profession, pharmacists and patient organizations, is intended, among other things, to oblige the federal government to “promote the research, development and production of important medicinal products in Switzerland”, to hold stocks and to distribute them to ensure fine distribution.
From 40 to 3200 employees
Despite all odds: Ibsa does not want to leave Switzerland or Ticino. This is where the company’s roots are; this is where the now 89-year-old owner and chairman of the board of directors, Arturo Licenziati, lives and comes to the office every day for work. In 1985 he took over the company Institut Biochimique SA with around 40 people. Today the company has around 3,200 employees worldwide, 900 of whom work in Ticino.
And the company should remain in family hands; the two grandchildren already work for Ibsa. Sidjanski is also happy about that. He is an Ibsa veteran, came to the Ticino pharmaceutical company from German-speaking Switzerland in 1992 and has stayed ever since. This is due to the success of the company, which created hundreds of jobs in Ticino and never laid anyone off “even during the pandemic,” as he explains. And of course the culture of an owner-managed family business.
A look at Ibsa production in Ticino.
Image: Beppe Raso
In total, Ibsa generates sales of almost a billion francs – for example with the osteoarthritis drug Condrosulf, the Flector active ingredient plasters, which promise relief from sprains, bruises and muscle strains, but also with its thyroid preparations in ampoules and soft capsules and the fertility hormones.
And the company wants more. It has just expanded production capacity at its headquarters. Today, around 7.5 million packs come off the production line at the modern thyroid hormone filling plant every year, which also meets the requirements of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The potential is over 9 million packs annually, adds Sidjanski during a tour of the factory.
All six Ibsa production facilities in Ticino will soon be consolidated at the headquarters in Pian Scairolo, the industrial and commercial area between Lugano and Collina d’Oro. Here “in the Spreitenbach of Ticino,” as an Ibsa employee puts it, in addition to Ikea, Jumbo and many car brands, numerous manufacturing companies also have their offshoots.
In any case, the construction plan is already in place and the investments have been reserved. “We are one of the leading companies in Ticino in terms of investments,” says Sidjanski. Even in the southern canton, which is primarily perceived as a sun lounge and tourist destination in German-speaking Switzerland, industry is responsible for around a fifth of economic output, and as in the rest of Switzerland, pharmaceuticals outstrip all others in Ticino’s industry.
Latest news from the field of economics
