CERCLE DIPLOMATIQUE - issue 02/2019

L’AUTRICHE PHARMA INDUSTRY
1,94 pharma
Euro
werden mit 1,00 Pharma-Euro
erwirtschaftet.
for the economy means 1 invested
euro.
presents
Oben:
Pfizer-Impfstoffproduktion
in Orth/Donau.
Unten: Pfizer-Chef Robin
Rumler.
Top:
Pfizer vaccine production in
Orth/Donau.
Below: Pfizer head Robin
Rumler.
businesses with around 18,000 employees. Together,
they contribute 4.8 billion euro towards the
economy, according to numbers from Pharmig, the
industry’s interests group. Austria is a pharma haven.
Other numbers likewise underscore Austria’s significance
as a pharmaceutical hub: In the past three
years, domestic and especially international companies
have invested more than 2.5 billion euro in the
expansion of some and the new development of other
production facilities. Boehringer Ingelheim, for example,
is expanding its bio-pharmaceutical production
in Vienna by around 700 million euro. Soon, biological
medicines are going to be manufactured at a
new cell culture plant.
The stable framework conditions, the high educational
level and the high quality of life in Austria were
all key for this development, says Philipp von Lattorff,
general director of the Boehringer Ingelheim Regional
Center Vienna (RCV). “Such criteria are major requirements
to attract highly qualified specialists and international
experts.” And the Boehringer Ingelheim
RCV will need them, too: The globally active pharmaceutical
corporation’s Viennese subsidiary is responsible
for Austria as well as over 30 countries in the
region of Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia,
Switzerland and Israel. In 2018, the company employed
more than 3,500 people, 1,833 of them in Austria.
Similar praise comes from Robin Rumler, general
director of Pfizer. “We’re based in Austria because we
have expertly trained employees as well as stability
and a crisis-proof environment – from politics to the
economy and all the way to natural disasters.” In Austria,
Pfizer handles both distribution as well as production.
In Orth an der Donau, an FSME vaccine and
a meningococcal C vaccine are currently being produced
for the world market. The FSME vaccine –
which protects against tick-borne encephalitis – was,
incidentally, also developed in Austria.
An important breeding ground for the success of
the pharmaceutical industry are the nation’s universities
and technical colleges. There are four public medical
universities, as well as several private teaching
and research institutions. With around 8,000 students,
the Medical University of Vienna is the biggest
university specialising in the field in Europe. The situation
is similar with the 29 university clinics and
clinical institutes of the Medical University of Vienna:
They are part of the biggest hospital in Austria, the
AKH. The Medical University of Vienna employs
5,500 people, 3,600 of them in the scientific field. Immunology,
oncology, medical neurosciences, cardiovascular
medicine and medical imagining are among
the university’s foci. In these five areas, the Medical
University of Vienna plays in the top league of international
research.
And thus, a team around university professor Rudolf
Valenta has – in cooperation with their Viennese
business partner Biomay – developed the first effective
vaccine against grass pollen allergy in the world. It
is on track to be approved in 2021 and could revolutionise
allergy therapy. Around 400 million people suffer
from this type of allergy. Next to the grass pollen
vaccine, additional injections for the desensitisation
against dust mites, ragweed, birch pollen and cat hair
allergies are likewise going to be approved in the coming
years.
Another internationally respected institution is
the Vienna Cancer Center (VCC), where the renowned
cancer specialist Christoph Zielinski plays a key
role. The VCC combines the oncological facilities of
the Medical University of Vienna with a group of Viennese
hospitals. To its research partners, it presents
itself as an access point for large, multi-centric studies.
With the help of this organisation and the high
demand for scientific cooperation, Vienna is gaining
even more prestige as a hub for oncological research.
Boehringer-Ingelheim general director von Lattorff
highlights the accomplishments and opportunities
of scientific research in the country. “Medical research
– in many different domains – is organised
very efficiently in Austria and doesn’t lag behind any
other European country.” His company collaborates
with a group of research teams and institutions, such
as the Medical University of Vienna, the Center for
Molecular Medicine and the Medical University of
Innsbruck.
In addition, Boehringer Ingelheim is also co-financing
the “Research Institute of Molecular Pathology”
(IMP). The IMP is a biomedical foundations
research centre that deals with molecular biology and
genetic research. More than 200 researchers from
over 30 countries have dedicated themselves to solving
questions pertaining to fundamental molecular
and cellular processes. With investments of around
50 million euro, Boehringer Ingelheim RCV financed
the new IMP building in Vienna’s 3rd district two years
ago.
And it is not only Austria’s capital city that – according
to the multinational corporation – offers excel
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56 Cercle Diplomatique 2/2019