New biotech data
09.04.2014 10:16
2013 was apparently a mixed year for the German biotechnology industry. Nevertheless, major industry's interest in biotech products remains unbroken - not only in the healthcare industry, but increasingly also in the bioeconomy. This is reported by the German biotechnology industry organization BIO Deutschland.
Improved financing on the stock exchange, stagnation in sales and employee numbers, declining spending on research and development - these developments are said to have shaped the biotechnology industry in 2013, according to BIO Deutschland. This emerges from the first results of the survey by biotechnologie.de on the situation of biotechnology in Germany, which were published at the start of the “German Biotechnology Days 2014” on April 9th in Hamburg.
The event is organized annually by the industry association BIO Deutschland, the working group of bioregions and a bioregion, in this case Life Science North, and is currently expecting over 700 participants from science, business and politics. The industry report is carried out every year on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) according to the guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The numbers in the report in detail:
In 2013, sales remained roughly constant at around 2.9 billion euros, reports the association. The companies invested around a third of this sum (899 million euros) in research and development (R&D) (2012: 934 million euros). The number of employees in dedicated companies, i.e. those primarily involved in biotechnology, fell slightly to 16,950 (2012: 17,430). The number of these companies has risen to 570 compared to the previous year (2012: 565), including 13 new companies.
Biotechnology continues to be very relevant as an industrial topic: there are now a total of 130 companies for which biotechnology is part of their business (2012: 128). These included, among others, corporations from the pharmaceutical, chemical and food industries. According to the report, 18,450 employees worked in the biotechnology-oriented areas of these companies (2012: 17,760). “Totaled up, this results in a total of 35,400 jobs in commercial biotechnology in Germany in 2013,” says the press release from BIO Deutschland.
The financing situation also developed positively in 2013: the biotech companies raised a total of around 400 million euros (2012: 347 million euros). The upward trend among listed companies that began in 2012 continued: Compared to the previous year, investments through capital increases more than doubled to a total of 218 million euros (2012: 95 million euros).
The picture is different for privately financed companies: with venture capital financing amounting to 137 million euros, the value has fallen by 34 percent (2012: 205 million euros). The share of public funding remained constant at 49 million euros (2012: 47 million euros).
“2013 was an encouraging year for many biotech shareholders. Some companies were able to increase their value significantly,” summarized Dr. Boris Mannhardt, authorized representative of BIOCOM AG and head of the study at biotechnologie.de. Dr. Peter Heinrich, CEO of the BIO Deutschland business association, adds: “In biotechnology, it sometimes only becomes clear after many years whether a business model and the development models it pursues actually work or not. In 2013, successes and setbacks were balanced. Biotech products from Germany are innovations that are in demand in many places, and the bioeconomy in particular is proving to be a growth factor.”
“The long-term support of biotechnology in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein also paid off in 2013,” says Dr. Hinrich Habeck from Life Science Nord. “Promising new biotech companies have been founded in our region and existing companies have been able to consolidate themselves. The new record number of participants at the Biotechnology Days shows the unbroken vitality of the industry.”