American biotech, pharmaceutical, and life sciences companies face myriad challenges today. Organizations are struggling with a shortage of skilled workers, rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and data security. Other difficulties include a growing scrutiny of regulations and sustainability. And the pressure is always mounting to drive growth and international expansion, develop domestic manufacturing and research capacities abroad, and improve access to new drugs and technologies.
One example is MSD, a Merck & Co. company, which in 2020 acquired Themis, a Vienna-based startup that specializes in vaccines and immunomodulation therapies for infectious diseases and cancer. MSD Animal Health Danube Biotech invested about €30 million in Austria in cutting-edge technologies for veterinary medicine, with €150 million more planned.
Many companies in Austria, such as BASF, ZETA, Bilfinger, and VTU, provide basic technologies for the entire value chain in production processes. These technologies include the production of plasma, special enzymes, and other biological substrates, and stem-cell products for repairing bones, cartilage, and muscle tissue, alongside good manufacturing practice expertise for developing pharmaceutical plants.
Given Austria’s acclaimed dual educational system, combining theoretical and practical training, life-sciences organizations have little trouble recruiting highly qualified and motivated employees. Today, 77,000 students are enrolled in Austria’s university life-sciences study programs: an enormous next-gen talent pool.
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