Biotech and biopharma location in Europe

Copenhagen - the centre of Medicon Valley. One of Europe's most attractive locations for biotech and biopharma companies.

Copenhagen is located in the centre of the cross-border biopharma and biotech cluster Medicon Valley. Medicon Valley accounts for approximately 60% of the Scandinavian pharmaceutical and medical industry. Medicon Valley – which encompasses the Danish capital region Copenhagen and the Skåne region in Southern Sweden – is the largest biopharma and biotech growth center in Scandinavia and one of the strongest in Europe.

Medicon Valley contains four major pharmaceutical companies: Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, LEO Pharma, and H. Lundbeck. Together, they form a concentration of pharma power unmatched in Europe and probably the world. With support from the region’s thriving academic and clinical life science research, this concentration has made Medicon Valley into a world leader in four of the most commercially attractive disease areas:
 Diabetes, Inflammation/immunology, Neuroscience, and Cancer.

>> Read more

Medicon Valley has 41,000 people employed in the life sciences, more than two-thirds are employed on the Danish side where a strong academic environment sustains the skilled work force. With just over three million inhabitants, the area contains 14 universities. The two most prominent – Lund, founded in 1666, and Copenhagen, founded in 1479 – have each produced Nobel Prize winning work within the life sciences.

Medicon Valley is a nourishing environment for new life science enterprises. Since 1997, 61 new biotech companies have emerged, bringing the total to 115 companies in an area of only 14.000 square kilometers.

 Medicon Valley at a glance

• 3.6 million people
• 14 universities
• 140,000 university students
• 41,000 people employed in life science industries
• 5000 life science researchers
• 26 hospitals (11 university hospitals)
• 6 science parks
• 125 biotech companies

This guide covers Copenhagen’s attractiveness within Life Sciences with regard to:

1. Academic and clinical research
2. Biotech productivity
3. Special capabilities
4. Legislation
5. Financing opportunities

1. Academic and clinical research

The large flow of products in development in Medicon Valley requires strong clinical research support. This is provided by 15 area clinical research centers and 11 university hospitals among the total of 26 hospitals. >> Read more

2. Biotech productivity

Medicon Valley’s four largest pharmaceutical companies contribute to the region’s highly mature product development capability. >> Read more

3. Special capabilities

Here, you can read about the areas in which Copenhagen offers extraordinary business opportunities to biopharma and biotech companies within: Diabetes, Inflammation/immunology, Neuroscience, and Cancer. >> Read more

Here you can download the full documentation of the above mentioned areas - a Boston Consulting survey “ Commercial attractiveness of biomedical R&D in Medicon Valley”.

4. Legislation

Find more information about the Danish health authorities approval, legislation on drugs, and environmental and manufacturing legislation. >> Read more

5. Financing opportunities

Biotech and biopharma enjoy strong financial backing in Medicon Valley. There are about 50 venture capitalists investing in the region, covering all phases of investment. >> Read more

Other sites of interest

Visit the Medicon Valley-website here

Last updated on: 01-02-2008	<< Back   Top