Approved in Europe. Available in Switzerland. The gap in between.
Switzerland develops more medicines per capita than almost any country in the world. It is home to Novartis, Roche, Lonza and a dense cluster of biotech companies that between them run hundreds of clinical programmes. The science is genuinely world-class.
The conversation at Swiss Biotech Day reflects this. AI in drug discovery, novel modalities, accelerating development timelines. These are the right things to talk about, but there is a second half to the story that tends to get skipped.
Once a therapy has been approved, how does it actually get to a patient in Switzerland? The country sits in an interesting position. Despite its importance to the global industry, it is a relatively small market and rarely sits at the top of the launch sequence. Many companies reach Switzerland later, after France, Germany, Italy and the UK have been addressed. In the meantime, patients need access.
This is where individual patient importation becomes critical. In Switzerland, physicians can prescribe medicines for individual patients and import them on the basis of that prescription from a country with an equivalent regulatory system, usually an EU member state. Uniquely in Europe, Swiss health insurance can then reimburse those imported medicines. It is not a widely understood mechanism, and it does not generate the same conversation as a Phase III readout or a platform technology. But without it, Swiss patients wait longer.
Sciensus has been operating in Switzerland for years, through an integrated value chain that cover the full range of services: Sciensus Wholesale AG handles importation and (pre-)wholesale distribution; Sciensus Apotheke AG runs the pharmacy, dispensing specialist medicines under GDP-compliant conditions to the patients; and Sciensus AG provides the homecare nursing service, sending qualified nursing staff to patients’ homes to administer treatments, including complex infusion therapies.
That combination matters. Under Swiss regulations, biotech and pharma companies cannot build these components independently – the supply, dispensing and clinical administration of medicines must be handled by licensed operators. That makes a partner like Sciensus not just convenient but necessary. Companies can rely on us to procure medicines for individual patients and, where needed, administer them at home.
We work with companies that are still navigating the gap between EMA and Swiss approval, and with those that are already marketing medicines. In both cases, the practical infrastructure for getting medicine to the right patient, administered correctly, is what makes treatment possible.
Switzerland will continue to produce world-class science. The question worth asking at events like Swiss Biotech Day is whether the infrastructure to translate that science into care is keeping pace. We think it matters, and it is what we are here to do.
