Bern, 13 June 2023
On 9 June 2023 the Federal Council approved Swissmedic’s Annual Report for 2022, thereby ratifying the Agency’s reporting on the past year – the 20th in its existence. In addition to performance and financial overviews, the report contains informative facts and figures on Swissmedic’s wide-ranging activities.
As confirmed by Swissmedic’s strategic body – the Agency Council – in its report to the Federal Council, the Agency has fulfilled its task of overseeing therapeutic products in Switzerland both effectively and professionally. In the year under review, the Swiss Agency for Therapeutic Products not only celebrated its 20th anniversary but consolidated its position as a reliable partner to Switzerland’s healthcare sector. National and international networking proved invaluable in helping to overcome the coronavirus pandemic – new virus variants and diverse modifications to previously approved medicines and vaccines generated a great deal of extra work again in 2022.
Swissmedic’s long-established commitment at the international level paid dividends: one-fifth of the authorisations for human medicinal products with a new active substance took place in the context of international procedures (for example within the Access Consortium and in the Orbis project).
Swissmedic’s chief task is implementing Switzerland’s Therapeutic Products Act (TPA). This involves four core processes: science-based authorisation, licensing and market surveillance functions, plus invoking criminal law to prosecute violations of the TPA. In the latter area, Swissmedic can execute criminal administrative proceedings.
Under the TPA, Swissmedic is endowed with its own financial resources and keeps its own accounts. 84 per cent of revenues (CHF 98 million; previous year: CHF 106 million) originate from fees and supervisory levies and 16 per cent from federal government grants (CHF 19 million; previous year: CHF 17 million). The federal contribution is used to finance activities relating to legislation and criminal proceedings, as well as surveillance of the medical devices market.
Swissmedic also reported the following facts and figures for 2022: 535 employees (486 full-time equivalent), 11,720 authorisation applications and applications for variations for conventional medicinal products, 8 authorisations for complementary medicinal products, 15 authorisations for veterinary medicinal products, 7,000 enquiries from members of the public, 1,116 media enquiries, 17 warning notifications for medical professionals due to new findings on medicinal product safety and 50 complaints due to infringements of advertising legislation relating to authorised medicinal products. At the end of the year, Swissmedic had 30,400 followers on social media channels, and a total of 5,765 medicinal products were authorised in Switzerland.
Source – Swiss Government