A Barcelona group comes to Couvet while Swiss pharma fights for its place

STE Pharmaceuticals, a group based in Barcelona, plans to build a 15,000 m² production and research site in Couvet, a village in the canton of Neuchâtel, with the works due to finish in 2032. It is one project, and a long way off. But it arrives while swissinfo.ch is reporting in a series on how geopolitics is reshaping the industry and Switzerland's place in it. Read together, they show an industry under pressure at the top that is still drawing newcomers. Here is the news, the backdrop and what it means if you work in the industry.

In short

• The plan: STE wants to convert a former Analytecon factory in Couvet into a production site with an R&D department. The planning consultation runs until 9 November, and there is no job figure yet.
• The pressure: Roche and Novartis have pledged USD 73 billion to the US, China's share of the global drug pipeline has reached 31%, and a new drug costs the biggest companies 65% more than in 2014.
• For your career: most Swiss vacancies are in making and testing medicines, trial and regulatory work is getting heavier, and experience with Chinese partners is worth more.

The plan for Couvet

STE Pharmaceuticals operates in more than 60 countries and specialises in nasal sprays, cough syrups and natural food supplements. Its Swiss company, STE Swiss Pharma, is the former Analytecon under a new name: the commercial register shows it was called Advantal Swiss Pharma until this spring. moneyhouse.ch The new name is already on the plant the group plans to convert. The first hurdle is the building permit: the application, which includes demolition, is in public consultation until 9 November. RTN, swissinfo.ch

Stefano Ponta, a board member of STE Swiss Pharma, told the regional radio RTN that the aim is to create skilled jobs, but that it is too early to say how many. He was also clear about why the group is coming: "The main aim was to come to Switzerland to create a research and development department" (our translation). In a year of worry about Swiss R&D, that is worth noting.

Couvet already has three pharma companies: WuXi AppTec through its subsidiary WuXi STA, Sintetica and GMT Fine Chemicals. Ponta said that may partly explain the choice. Matthieu Aubert, head of the canton's economic service, said the Val-de-Travers still depends heavily on watchmaking, so international arrivals help diversify the local economy, and that a pharma cluster in Couvet could be a real draw for skilled workers. RTN

The pressures around it

Swiss pharma employs more than 56,000 people directly and, according to a 2024 BAK study commissioned by the industry association Interpharma, about 250,000 indirectly. Its exports passed CHF 100 billion in 2025, nearly 22% of the value of everything Switzerland exports. swissinfo.ch That is what the series says is at stake.

The US wants the investment and lower prices. To avert US tariffs, Roche and Novartis agreed to invest a combined USD 73 billion in the US over five years. The US accounts for around half of Roche's global sales, against less than 2% for Switzerland. swissinfo.ch President Trump's Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) plan, which aims to align US drug prices with those in peer countries including Switzerland, has turned out narrower than first feared: under rules announced on 30 September, only four unnamed companies fall under GLOBE, its mandatory Medicare pilot for clinic-administered drugs, and that pilot's estimated savings dropped from USD 11.9 billion to USD 440 million. It has still had an effect here. In an Interpharma member survey, MFN concerns led companies not to submit seven of 22 new innovative medicines for Switzerland's Specialties List between January 2025 and June 2026. swissinfo.ch

China is now a rival, a partner and a neighbour. China's share of the global drug pipeline rose from 18% in 2021 to 31% at the start of 2026, while Switzerland's stays just under 7%. Chinese firms' out-licensing deals with global pharma were potentially worth USD 137 billion in 2025, more than double the 2024 figure. swissinfo.ch With venture money at home shrinking, they are also looking to Europe: 12 Chinese companies came to Swiss Biotech Day in Basel in May with support from Switzerland's official export and investment agency, nearly double the year before, and at least 15 more came on their own. swissinfo.ch This thread runs through Couvet too: WuXi AppTec is one of the Chinese contract manufacturers the series names.

Every new medicine costs more. The world's 20 biggest biopharma companies spent an average of USD 2.23 billion per new drug in 2024, 65% more than in 2014, or around 25% after inflation, according to Deloitte. Phase 3 trials now gather nearly six million data points on average, against about 929,000 in 2012, and the chance that a drug entering Phase 1 reaches the market has fallen to 6.7%. swissinfo.ch

Basel is paying to keep its place. Basel City is spending CHF 150 to 500 million a year on an incentive programme that rebates up to 25% of R&D salaries and equipment depreciation and 10% of the cost of clinical trials in Switzerland. The Basel area counts 800 life-sciences companies, up from some 600 a decade ago according to the head of its promotion agency, and more than 33,000 people work in the sector. The worry has reached Bern: the federal parliament recently approved a motion calling for a national pharmaceutical strategy. swissinfo.ch

Geneva's non-profits are feeling it too. Medicines for Malaria Venture, the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative and the Global Antibiotic Research and Development Partnership announced an alliance in June, as pharma R&D spending on neglected diseases fell from USD 824 million in 2018 to USD 623 million in 2024. Their financing is locked in for the next five years, but they say less money is available. swissinfo.ch

What it means if you work in the industry

This part is our reading, not the reporters'.

Look beyond Basel. Quality, manufacturing, process engineering and supply chain made up 58% of the vacancies in our October hiring monitor, and Valais and Aargau and Solothurn came close behind the Basel region. A production site in a village fits that pattern better than the headlines about Basel suggest.

Keep Couvet on your list, but do not plan around it yet. There is no permit, no job figure and a 2032 finish. When hiring comes, a conversion like this usually needs process engineers and qualification and validation specialists well before production staff. Expect to need French: two of the three vacancies on our Neuchâtel and Jura page on 3 November ask for it. On its own site, STE describes its products as medical devices and food supplements, also offered ready-made for other companies' brands, so experience with medical-device rules may count as much as GMP for medicines. STE Pharmaceuticals We read few employers in this region so far, so check the neighbours' own career pages as well: WuXi AppTec, Sintetica and GMT Fine Chemicals.

Trial work is getting heavier. Each extra biopsy, scan or country added to a trial brings more approvals, logistics, monitoring and data management, swissinfo.ch reports. That is the daily work of clinical operations, regulatory affairs and data science. Some of it can move, though: McKinsey estimates that patient enrolment in China is two to five times faster.

Experience with China is worth naming. By deal count, roughly half of all large-pharma licence deals in the first half of 2026 were sourced from China. If you have worked with Chinese partners, in business development or at a contract manufacturer, put it on your CV.

Pricing matters more, in a small market. MFN has made market access a strategic question for companies in Switzerland, but it made up only 9 of the 754 vacancies in our October count.

What to watch

• Couvet: the consultation ends on 9 November. After that come the permit and the job figure, on which Ponta promises news later.
• Bern: parliament's health commissions suggested holding off on volume discounts for high-priced medicines, and a government working group on life sciences now has to decide the way forward.
• Washington: the rules for GUARD, the second mandatory MFN programme, have not been released, and the US industry association PhRMA is suing over GLOBE.

To follow the openings, set up a job alert from the Neuchâtel and Jura page or any search, or subscribe to the Swiss Life Science Briefing for the news behind them.