New facts and figures on the Swiss healthcare system and the pharmaceutical landscape

Basle, 18th August 2020

This year, Interpharma’s statistics publication will appear for the first time in a new concept. The “Panorama Health – the most important facts and figures on the Swiss health and pharmaceutical landscape” contains figures on the Swiss health system as well as on the pharmaceutical market and Switzerland as a pharmaceutical location. Among other things, it examines the expenditure structure of Swiss households, the development of health care costs in Switzerland or investments in research and development by the local pharmaceutical industry.

This is the 39th time that Interpharma’s statistics publication has appeared and for the first time this year it is appearing in a new guise. The brochure “Panorama Health 2020” combines figures on the healthcare system as well as on the pharmaceutical market and Switzerland as a pharmaceutical location. The brochure shows, for example, that cancer mortality among men and women has fallen from 2010 to 2017, partly due to new, innovative cancer therapies, without the share of drug costs in health care costs having risen. In addition, the brochure highlights facts about Switzerland as a research location, explains the long and risky path of drug development, and compares Switzerland’s innovative capacity with other countries.

Swiss healthcare and pharmaceutical market in detail

The new brochure covers topics relating to the Swiss healthcare system, from the development of life expectancy and the incidence of chronic diseases to the distribution and financing of healthcare costs. The “Panorama Health” also presents new figures on the Swiss pharmaceutical market. Among other things, it shows that patent-protected products continue to make up the bulk of the drug market, how a drug price is made up and what influences the development of the pharmaceutical market.

Pharmaceutical industry a mainstay of the Swiss economy

Two further chapters of the new brochure are devoted to research and development and Switzerland as a pharmaceutical location. In it, we show that the pharmaceutical industry invests above average in the research and development location compared to the rest of the industry, that 5.4 percent of Switzerland’s gross value added is generated by the pharmaceutical sector, or that in 2019 the industry in Switzerland employed 47,500 people directly and indirectly created an additional 209,000 jobs in other sectors through its demand for inputs.

The publication “Panorama Health – the most important facts and figures on the Swiss healthcare and pharmaceutical landscape” can be ordered or downloaded as a PDF file from the Interpharma website under “Publications”.