Companies

Companies

Strong SME base

At the heart of the Munich Biotech Cluster m4 are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) making up two thirds of the local firms (to company database).

About 120 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) (< 250 employees) are based in the Greater Munich area. The overwhelming majority are spin-offs from scientific institutions.

Lines of Business

Most of the biotech companies in Greater Munich operate in the field of red biotechnology or offer services for this sector.

  • Nearly half of all biotechnology companies (47%) are actively involved in the development of therapeutic and diagnostic agents
  • One quarter of the companies (25%) develop equipment and reagents for biomedical research
  • In addition, there are biotech service providers and suppliers of specific, innovative technology platforms (14%)
  • About 50 contract research organisations (CROs) offer services for the development of products

Publicly Quoted Companies

The following biotechnology SMEs in Greater Munich are quoted on the stock exchange:

In addition, here are branch offices of publicly quoted national and international biotech companies:

Amgen, Celgene, Cephalon, Emergent Biosolutions, EpiCept, Eurofins, Evotec, Fresenius Biotech, Gilead, Merck Serono, Prionics, ... and of course Roche in Penzberg.

Globale Pharmaunternehmen

Munich’s great potential lies in the interaction between major, globally operating pharmaceutical companies and innovative biotech SMEs. Some 80 international companies from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries have branches in Greater Munich:

  • The Swiss group Roche Diagnostics GmbH has developed its Penzberg site into one of the largest biopharmaceutical production plants in the world, providing 4,500 jobs.
  • Roche Diagnostics plays an important role in the reorganisation of the Munich cluster, as it is currently the only pharmaceutical company in the world that has already internally linked up the development of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products along the lines of the “Personalised Medicine“ strategy.
  • The UK company Glaxo Smith Kline conducts a substantial part of its clinical research in Munich
  • Sandoz, which produces generic drugs and is a subsidiary of the Swiss Novartis Group, has its headquarters in Holzkirchen
  • The US company General Electric Healthcare (GEHC) opened a global research centre in Garching in 2004.
  • Merck Sharp Dohme, the world’s third largest pharmaceutical company, has a German branch office and its headquarters for Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Canada in Haar.
  • Bristol-Myers-Squibb runs a head office in Munich
  • And the Japanese holding company Daiichi-Sankyo not only has its German head office, but also its European headquarters in Munich and since taking over U3 Pharma it has been engaged in research and development in Martinsried