Pharmapack Europe Basel is Most Attractive Destination in Europe for Launching New Drug Device Company

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A recent Pharmapack report has ranked the Basel region in Switzerland as the most attractive destination in Europe for launching a new drug device company. Pharmapack Europe – the continent’s largest partnering event for medical device and packaging innovation is scheduled to take place from January 22-23, 2025 at the Paris Expo in France.

Paris/France – New research released ahead of Pharmapack Europe – the continent’s largest partnering event for medical device and packaging innovation – has ranked the Basel region as the most attractive destination in Europe for launching a new drug device company. The study surveyed over 280 global pharmaceutical executives, asking them to identify the best location based on factors such as plant costs, access to skilled personnel, and ongoing operational expenses.

Basel emerged as the clear leader, selected by one-third of respondents, outperforming Lombardy (18 %), Catalunya (17 %), the UK’s "Golden Triangle" (15 %), and Baden-Württemberg in Germany (14 %).

The event, which takes places at the Paris Expo (January 22/23, 2025) is renowned as Europe’s premier pharmaceutical hub and empowers start-up innovators to meet with larger drug device and big pharma partners. Many of the breakthrough technologies in device design and sustainable packaging first gained industry attention at earlier editions of Pharmapack.

“As one of the few places where early-stage innovators can meet with investors and scale-up partners, we play a vital role in propagating drug delivery innovation,” commented Sherma Ellis-Daal, Brand Director at Pharmapack Europe. “This research identifies the optimal locations for discovering and developing the next generation technologies for a novel device or new packaging - from concept to commercialisation. In fact, one of the major impediments to development success is simply having the access to the right partners to scale, which is why we are encouraging innovators from across these major European centres to attend the event.”

In a further boost to industry prospects, Switzerland and Germany were selected as the two regions best to build a new biomanufacturing facility. Basel was selected as the clear winner, despite higher labour costs, due to its ‘unrivalled access to qualified personal and quality of research firms and infrastructure’.

Pharmapack Europe expects over 6,000 attendees and over 370 companies this year, with significant growth in early-stage companies participating. Its Start-Up Hub will host over 20 emerging companies, with increasing interest from German and Swiss executives seeking new development and licensing opportunities in device and packaging innovations.

Stèfan Halbherr, CEO, Innomedica a Swiss-based biotech and a Start-up Market innovator, attending Pharmapack to meet new clinical and commercial-scale partners for its nanocarriers filling technology, added: “It’s not surprising to us at all. Switzerland has a tremendous history of pharmaceutical innovation and highly qualified personnel. However, what is often underappreciated outside the country is the access to precision engineering available here. With many new devices and innovations targeting smaller patient cohorts for precision and personalized medicine applications, we need a fresh approach to device design and manufacturing flexibility.

Switzerland offers an exceptional foundation in manufacturing precision machinery. For example, to develop our unique approach to nanoparticle device filling, we collaborated with a manufacturer specializing in the production of small, highly precise machinery traditionally used in watchmaking. Moving forward, you’ll see smaller companies leading the next generation of med-tech innovation by adopting techniques from other industries and applying them to Switzerland’s world-class biomedical infrastructure.”

The full results of the Pharmapack Report 2024 and Index will be released during the event on CPHI-online.

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