Munich has developed into an important location for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, which is little known to the public. Many of them are not located directly in the Bavarian capital but in the surrounding area. In total, there are almost 400 biotech and pharmaceutical companies with over 20,000 employees in the Munich Metropolitan Region. Here is an overview of the 5 largest Munich pharmaceutical companies. This article is based on the unique List of the 150 largest pharmaceutical companies in Germany.
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- Excel list of the 150 largest pharmaceutical companies in Germany
- Includes: revenues (2015-2018), number of employees, contact details, executives
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- Last update: 14.05.2020
1. Astellas Pharma GmbH – Pharma-Know How aus Japan
Astellas is a globally active Japanese pharmaceutical group that was created in 2005 from the merger of the two pharmaceutical companies Fujisawa and Yamanouchi. The group is one of the three largest Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturers and employs around 16,500 employees. The European business, the activities in the Middle East and in South Africa are bundled under the roof of Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd. in Chertsey near London.
Astellas Pharma GmbH in Munich takes care of the German market. Astellas Pharma functions primarily as a sales and marketing company. The German Astellas subsidiary employs around 300 people and generates annual sales of approximately 420 million euros. Astellas develops and produces drugs in the fields of transplantation medicine and urology – in both areas Astellas is the market leader in Germany – as well as anti-infectives and cancer drugs.
2. glaxoSmithKline GmbH & Co KG – vaccines and more with British background
The name “GlaxoSmithKline” – “GSK” for short – stands for a globally active British pharmaceutical company. With around 100,000 employees and sales of over £30 billion, GSK is one of the seven largest pharmaceutical groups in the world in terms of sales. It was created in 2000 through the merger of Glaxo Wellcome and SmithKline Beecham. In 2014 GSK sold its cancer medicines business to Novartis in exchange for its vaccines and OTC medicines business. Today, GSK’s portfolio includes medicines, vaccines, healthcare products and hygiene products.
GSK Germany is headquartered in Munich and employs over 3,600 people at five locations. The Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare divisions are represented in Munich. In Heidelberg, Cellzome operates as a separate R&D facility. An influenza vaccine is produced at the Dresden site and components of other vaccines are manufactured in Marburg.
3. Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA – Arzneimittel aus den USA
Bristol-Myers Squibb – BMS for short – is a US pharmaceutical company with a rich tradition. The two predecessor companies Bristol-Myers and Squibb were founded in the 19th century and merged 1989. BMS employs about 25,000 people worldwide and has a turnover of 22.6 billion US dollars (2018). Bristol-Myers Squibb’s drugs cover a broad spectrum of diseases. Important patents exist for HIV, cardiovascular, oncology, hepatitis B and immunology drugs.
Bristol-Myers Squibb Germany is primarily a distribution company for the German market. The German subsidiary is centrally located in Munich’s Arnulfstrasse near the main railway station. More recent figures on the German subsidiary are not available. BMS Germany has approximately 1,000 employees and annual sales of several hundred million euros.
4. Daiichi Sankyo in Munich – for Germany and Europe
The globally active Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo can trace its roots back to 1899, and has been represented in Europe since 1910. Formally, the group was founded in 2005 through the merger of Daiichi Seiyaku and Sankyo. In 2019, the group had a turnover of 929.7 billion yen (converted 7.75 billion euros). Daiichi Sankyo offers a wide range of pharmaceuticals for various diseases.
Munich is home to the German and European headquarters of Daiichi Sankyo. For this purpose, the two companies Daiichi Sankyo Europe GmbH and Daiichi Sankyo Deutschland GmbH exist in a parent-subsidiary relationship. Daiichi Sankyo Europe has 12 national presences. In 2019, the company employed almost 700 people in Europe and achieved a turnover of approximately 950 million euros.
5. Celgene GmbH – now part of Bristol-Myers Squibb
Celgene was until 2019 an independent US pharmaceutical company specializing in drugs for cancer and immune diseases. It achieved annual sales of 15.3 billion US dollars (2018) with around 7,500 employees worldwide. In 2019 Celgene was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. The deal was closed in November 2019. The German subsidiary Celgene GmbH in Munich still exists as an independent company and was previously the sales company for Celgene products. In 2018 Celgene Germany had a good 320 employees and sales of approximately €820 million. Source: Listenchampion Picture source: Unsplash
