2023-03-08 10:21Pressmeddelande

Swedish drug development remains strong, a new report shows

The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023. Illustration: GreatlandThe Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023. Illustration: Greatland

Swedish pharmaceutical manufacturing and research has emerged from the pandemic in a stronger position and the country continues to be a prominent player in life sciences. These are among the conclusions of the report The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023, which maps the drug projects under development by Swedish pharmaceutical companies, published on 8 March by the industry organization SwedenBIO. 

On a global market where the pandemic followed by the war in Ukraine has shaken the global economy, the pipeline report shows that the Swedish life science industry remains strong.

The pipeline report shows that the number of Swedish pharmaceutical projects under development is increasing and that companies are planning expand their workforce in the coming year. This is also reflected in the fact that Sweden is ranked fifth in Europe in terms of the number of ongoing pharmaceutical research projects. 

"The report paints a broad picture of the life science ecosystem in Sweden. We see an industry consisting of many small companies with strong roots in academic research, and with a great need for support structures that enrich the value chain, such as service companies, infrastructures and collaborative projects", says Dr. Maja Neiman, SwedenBIO's science relations manager who led the data collection and production of the report. 

The report is produced every three years and is the only one of its kind. This year's edition maps 506 projects from 159 pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Sweden. 

Key figures from the report 

  • Oncology (32%) and neurology (16%) are the biggest therapeutic areas among the pharmaceutical projects in the report.    

  • Most projects are small molecules (59%), but biomolecules are strong (28%) and the share of cell and gene therapies (ATMP) (12%) has increased since previous years.

  • A large proportion of the companies (79%) see the financing as the biggest challenge in the near future, but at the same time a majority of the companies (64%) plan to recruit more staff in the coming year.    

  • 71% of the companies in the report are micro-sized companies with 0-9 employees and 22% are small companies with 10-49 employees. 56% of the companies included in the survey have spun off from academia or healthcare.   

  • 75% of the companies' staff work in research and development.   

  • Half of the pharmaceutical companies are headquartered in the Stockholm–Uppsala region (50%), followed by the Malmö–Lund region (29%), Gothenburg (15%) and Umeå (6%).    

 

Report launch on March 8

The report is launched today, March 8 2023. The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023 is available to download for free at: www.swedenbio.se/reports.    

A live launch seminar will be held online at 14:00 CEST in connection to the release of the report, where key facts will be presented and viewers will have the opportunity to ask questions. The seminar will be broadcast live via this link.  

The report package includes the following assets:

  • REPORT – The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023.pdf:  Statistics and editorial features.    

  • APPENDIX – The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023.pdf:A detailed list of the companies and projects included in the report.

  • Company list 2023 published.xslx

  • Project list 2023 published.xlsx

The report is produced by SwedenBIO, the trade organization for Sweden's life science industry, in collaboration with Citeline and Business Sweden and with support from Vinnova.       


For media  

Contact Alexandra Hoegberg, Director of Communications and International Marketing at SwedenBIO, for questions: alexandra.hoegberg@swedenbio.se. Maja Neiman, report editor and Science Relations Manager at SwedenBIO, is available for interviews.    

The photos in this press release are free to use by media with the following credit: 

  • Cover of The Swedish Drug Discovery and Development Pipeline 2023. Illustration: Greatland 

  • Dr Maja Neiman, Science Relations Manager, SwedenBIO. Foto: Camille Sonally 

 

Maja Neiman, Science Relations Manager, SwedenBIO

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr Maja Neiman, Science Relations Manager, SwedenBIO. Foto: Camille Sonally

 


Om SwedenBIO

SwedenBIO is the national association for the Swedish life science industry, representing the sector both domestically and globally. Sweden has a vibrant, innovative life science industry, strong academia, and world-leading infrastructure for research. SwedenBIO’s 330+ members are companies within pharma, biotech, diagnostics and medtech, and comprise the entire range from small start-ups to SMEs and large enterprises.