According to a study by the Department of Labor and Economic Affairs of the City of Munich and the biotech cluster management organization BioM, 373 biotech and pharmaceutical companies employed 33,400 people in the EMM last year. Of these, 146 companies are headquartered in the city itself, and another 193 are located in Planning Region 14, commonly referred to as the Munich Region.
The study divides the companies into various sectors: It identifies a total of 165 biotechnology companies. 56 new companies have been founded since 2015, 16 of which were founded in 2020. The sector employed 18,500 people last year. The life sciences sector accounts for 136 companies with 6,700 employees. In addition, there are 31 pharmaceutical companies in the EMM, employing 5,900 people. Furthermore, 51 contract research organizations (CROs) with 2,300 employees are located in the EMM.
These companies are currently investigating a total of 126 drug candidates for drug and diagnostic development in the clinical phase. In 2013, the year the last study was published, there were only 49 candidates. Furthermore, 35 projects are currently in Phase III clinical development. At the same time, the number of approved drugs by small and medium-sized enterprises has doubled from six to twelve since 2013.
Biotech and pharmaceutical industries are part of Munich's high-tech location
Clemens Baumgärtner, Advisor for Labor and Economic Affairs, explained:
"Munich's importance as a business location stems from the sum of its future-oriented industries. These offer highly qualified jobs and benefit from a broad scientific network at the location. Even during the coronavirus crisis, Munich's biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries have demonstrated their innovativeness and competitiveness and can be considered a key pillar of Munich's high-tech location."
Horst Domdey, Managing Director of BioM, added:
"The biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries in the Munich metropolitan region have responded excellently to both the challenges of the pandemic and the opportunities of digitalization, successfully further expanding their expertise in the field of personalized medicine."
Companies feel at home here: 81 percent rated the region as a very good or good biotechnology and pharmaceutical location. The focus is on proximity to science and research. The region is characterized by eight research institutions that provide the scientific foundation, including two elite universities, three world-renowned Max Planck Institutes, and the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Health. This is complemented by effective network management, particularly through the cluster organization BioM.