Top 10 Pharma and Biotech Companies in Germany 2024

According to Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), Germany constitutes the major European pharmaceutical market and the fourth largest worldwide, with a pharmaceutical market that is growing at a faster rate than the German economy.

The country is home to more than 600 pharmaceutical companies, with the pharma industry employing around 140,000 people. In this article, we highlight the top 10 biotech and pharma companies in Germany as of 2023, based on their market capitalisation.

1. Bayer AG ($60.49 billion)

Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health care and nutrition. With over 100,000 employees globally, the company’s products and services are designed to help people and the planet thrive, supporting efforts to master the major challenges presented by a growing and ageing population.

As of December 31st, 2022, Bayer had 22,569 employees in Germany, representing 22.3% of the total Group workforce. As well as being headquartered in Leverkusen, the Group has offices in Bergkamen, Berlin, Bitterfeld-Wolfen, Burscheid, Darmstadt, Dormagen, Frankfurt am Main, Monheim am Rhein, and more.

2. Biogen ($38.45 billion)

Biogen is a leading global biotechnology company that has pioneered multiple breakthrough innovations. The company is advancing a pipeline of potential novel therapies across neurology, neuropsychiatry, specialised immunology, and rare diseases.

Of its 9,000 employees, more than 300 people work for Biogen in Germany.

3. Merck KGaA ($23.31 billion)

Merck is a leading science and technology company, operating across life science, healthcare, and electronics. With more than 64,000 employees, the company aims to make a positive difference to millions daily by creating more joyful and sustainable ways to live.

Merck KGaA employs more than 12,000 people in Germany, with headquarters in Darmstadt and offices in Weiterstadt, Berlin, Hamburg, Hohenbrunn, Schnelldorf, Steinheim, Taufkirchen, and more.

4. Qiagen ($10.57 billion)

QIAGEN is the leading global provider of Sample to Insight solutions that enable customers to gain valuable molecular insights from samples containing the building blocks of life. QIAGEN provides solutions to more than 500,000 customers around the world in Molecular Diagnostics and Life Sciences, and as of September 2023, employed more than 6,000 people across 35 locations worldwide.

In Germany, the company’s EMEA headquarters are in Hilden, with another office in Stockach.

5. Evotec AG ($3.45 billion)

Evotec’s mission is to discover and develop highly effective therapeutics and make them globally available to the patients who need them. The company has established itself as a global platform company, with a network of partners that includes all Top 20 Pharma and hundreds of biotechnology companies, academic institutions, and other healthcare stakeholders.

The company has more than 5,000 employees working across 17 sites in six countries across Europe and the USA, with headquarters in Hamburg, Germany. Evotec has multiple sites across the country, including in Cologne, Goettingen, Halle/Westphalia, and Munich.

6. Dermapharm Holding SE ($2.24 billion)

Founded in 1991, Dermapharm is a rapidly growing manufacturer of branded pharmaceuticals and other healthcare products. The company is based in Grünwald near Munich. In addition to its main location in Brehna near Leipzig, Dermapharm also operates other production, development and distribution locations in Germany, the rest of Europe and the United States.

In 2022, the Dermapharm Group employed an annual average of 2,563 people across 55 companies, 26 of which are based in Germany.

7. Biotest AG ($1.63)

Biotest is a provider of biological therapeutics derived from human plasma. The company has specialised primarily in the areas of clinical immunology, haematology, and intensive care medicine, with a value-added chain that extends from pre-clinical and clinical development to worldwide sales.

Biotest has more than 2,400 employees worldwide across its headquarters in Dreieich, Germany, and subsidiaries in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.

8. Formycon AG ($1.23 billion)

Formycon is a leading, independent developer of high-quality biopharmaceutical medicines, especially biosimilars. The company focused on treatments in ophthalmology, immunology, and other key chronic diseases.

The company has between 201 – 500 employees and is based and headquartered in Martinsried-Planegg, a suburb of Munich known as the heart of the city’s famed biotech cluster.

9. Morphosys AG ($0.53 billion)

Morphosys is a global commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company developing and delivering innovative medicines, aspiring to redefine how cancer is treated. The company is headquartered in Planegg, Germany, and has its U.S. operations in Boston, Massachusetts.

The company employs more than 540 people across the U.S. and Germany.

10. Medios AG ($0.49 billion)

Medios AG is the leading provider of specialty pharma solutions in Germany. As a competence partner and expert, the company covers all relevant aspects of the supply chain in this area: from drug supply to the production of patient-specific therapies, including blistering. Medios AG is Germany’s first listed specialty pharmaceutical company and has a focus on optimal care for patients via specialised pharmacies.

The company is headquartered in Berlin, and in 2022, had an average of 497 employees.

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