Pharmaceutical giant Biogen invests US$ 350 million in this Scandinavian region

Medicon Valley, which incorporates Greater Copenhagen in Denmark and Skåne in southern Sweden, has a world-class reputation in the biotech and pharmaceutical field. As a result, BIOGEN, the world's oldest independent biopharmaceutical company, announced in May 2001 that they had decided to establish their European manufacturing plant here. The investment is worth US$ 350 million and the new plant in Copenhagen should be completed by 2005. BIOGEN expects to provide jobs for approximately 400 new employees

CEO James C Mullen said, “BIOGEN's conclusion was that Denmark / Medicon Valley is extremely competitive when it comes to the quality of the workforce. …”

“… The new site represents solid ground for BIOGEN's long-term development business strategy. The decision of locating in Medicon Valley was made after 14 months' thorough research and an evaluation of many potential sites.”

Paul Coleman, senior director of manufacturing and general manager of the new site, said, “BIOGEN's intention with the new plant is to support our results in research and development with outstanding manufacturing capabilities. We are pleased about the outstanding cooperation we received during the site-selection process. The close cooperation with the municipalities and Copenhagen Capacity made our decision easier and made us confident in the further development of the project”.

Medicon Valley attracts researchers

For foreign researchers, the extensive community of biotech companies, modern laboratory facilities and world-class research are some of the most important reasons for choosing Medicon Valley as their work place. In addition, a favourable tax regime exclusively for researchers also plays an important role together with the region's high-quality living conditions.

A long-standing tradition for biotech

Medicon Valley has a very strong biotech research environment and the establishment of BRIC (Biotechnological Research and Innovation Centre) in Copenhagen and BMC (Biomedical Centre) in Lund will further strengthen this Medicon Valley ranks third in the biomedicine field in Europe after London and Paris. The region has probably the highest number of biotech companies per capita in the world Denmark came second and Sweden sixth in Europe when Ernst & Young measured the number of products in the pipeline by public biotech companies in 2001. Denmark was ranked second in the world after Korea with regard to biotech patents from US Patent Office, 1992-99 Novo Nordisk, one of the world's largest biotech companies is based in Medicon Valley.

Close public and private collaboration

Historically, Medicon Valley is home to many small and medium-sized companies and they have created a high level of collaboration between the region's higher education institutions and companies.

The close collaboration between the public and the private sector in the region has also contributed to the establishment of world-famous companies such as Novo Nordisk, Oticon and Gambro. As a result of intensive collaboration with local hospitals, they have become world leaders in insulin production, hearing aids and renal care & blood component technologies respectively.

Two new large biotechnology centres are currently under construction in the region. Biotech Research and Innovation Centre in Copenhagen and Biomedical Centre in Lund, Skåne

The strong research and know-how base is a result of substantial government grants for research at universities and hospitals and of major private industry research programmes.

Joined forces

Hospitals, universities and more than 175 companies in Medicon Valley have joined forces to develop the most attractive region in Europe with regard to research and development within medicotechnology and biotechnology.

The region offers excellent conditions for basic research and education but also efficient knowledge and technology transfer between universities, hospitals and companies. The cross-border member organization. Medicon Valley Academy is also the only regional organisation in the world unifying the interests of hospitals, universities and companies. Lund University, University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark are among the region's main research institutions, and there are a total of 135,000 students at the region's universities. All major universities are united in the Øresund University network organization.

Facts about Medicon Valley

  • 2.9 million inhabitants

  • 11 universities

  • 135.000 students

  • 5 science parks

  • 26 hospitals of which 11 are university hospitals

  • 95 biotechnological companies

  • 125 medicotechnical companies

  • 71 pharmaceutical companies

  • 25 venture capital companies

  • 34,000 employees within the life science industry

Medicon Valley's heavyweight companies

AstraZenecaNovo NordiskLundbeck, Start-ups NeuroSearch Biora Pharmexa Active Biotech

High concentration in the Medicon Valley

In recent years, several US-based biotech companies have established activities in the region. Among these are: Genmab (Medarex), Structural Bioinformatics, ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, Pantheco (ISIS Pharmaceuticals) and Ciphergen Biosystems. The number of home-grown biotech companies has, however, also increased significantly and include among others: BioImage, Symphogen, Exiqon, Zealand Pharmaceuticals, Combio, 7TM Pharma, Nat-Immune, Cureon, Odin Medical, Sophion, Alligator Bioscience and Lundonia Biotech.

Leading in Europe

Sweden and Denmark are second and third in Europe when it comes to R&D expenditure per capita in the pharmaceutical industry Denmark and Sweden are per capita the third and fifth largest pharmaceutical exporters in the world.

Some of the important pharmaceutical companies are AstraZeneca, Pharmacia, Novo Nordisk, Lundbeck and Leo Pharmaceutical.

About Medicon Valley

The area encompasses Copenhagen in Denmark and Skåne in Southern Sweden and has a population of about 2.9 million people, including a highly-qualified labour force. More than 54,000 people in Medicon Valley work in the medical industry, including 5,000 researchers. There is ample capital for biotechnology projects and there are many investors who think long-term. In 1994 there was US$ 250 million available in Medicon Valley but by 2000 this had increased to US$ 650 million. In 2000 the invested capital was about US$ 160 million. Some of the major venture companies dedicated to invest in biotech companies are: BankInvest, HealthCap, Novo A/S (the venture arm within the Novo Group which also includes Novo Nordisk and Novozymes), Malmöhus Invest and Medicon Valley Capital.

The Scandinavian way of life

Medicon Valley is a very rich, well-organized and safe region known for its family-oriented way of life. In fact, in a 2001 survey by the London-based institute William Mercer, Copenhagen was ranked the world's fourth best city in which to live. And 400 expatriates ranked Sweden and Denmark number 1 and number 3 out of seven countries in a survey in 1998 of the most attractive countries to live and work in.

The happiest employees and most attractive taxes

A favourable tax regime for expatriates and researchers makes Medicon Valley attractive for foreigners who want to work in the region's biotechnological and pharmaceutical environment. Employees in Denmark are the happiest workers on earth according to Vancouver-based Ipsos-Reid's 2000 survey, which included 39 countries. (Denmark came first when 61 per cent of Danish employees described themselves as very satisfied with their jobs.)

Integrated approach in the Medicon Valley

Ernst & Young wrote in their 2001 European Life Sciences Report, “While much attention within the European life science sector has been focused on Germany and the UK, Scandinavia has been quietly building a world-class industry and showing the rest of Europe how a well-integrated approach to industrial development can provide significant rewards”.

Region Skåne and Copenhagen Capacity

Region Skåne and Copenhagen Capacity launched a cross-border partnership in 1996 to promote the region and to attract foreign biotech and pharmaceutical companies. They are both publicly funded investment promotion organizations, which assist foreign companies free of charge to establish themselves in the region. Among those companies given assistance were Acadia Pharmaceuticals, Structural BioInformatics, Genmab, ISIS Pharmaceuticals, Ciphergen Biosystems and Biogen.

Medicon Valley Academy

Medicon Valley Academy (MVA) is a regional, membership-based, not-for-profit network organisation. Its members include practically all the universities, healthcare organizations, and most of the biotech companies in Medicon Valley.

MVA's activities aim to bring together researchers and/or company managers with the objective of creating increased knowledge transfer and the formation of networks between companies, universities and health sectors in the region.

More information is available at:

www.mva.org www.mediconvalley.com