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Company profile

We are the leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases.

Fresenius Medical Care is the world’s leading provider of products and services for individuals with renal diseases of which around 4.1 million patients worldwide regularly undergo dialysis treatment. Dialysis is a vital blood cleansing procedure that substitutes the function of the kidneys in case of kidney failure.

Fresenius Medical Care offers products and services along the entire dialysis value chain from a single source. We care for more than 332,000 patients in our global network of roughly 4,000 dialysis clinics. At the same time, we operate around 40 production sites on all continents, to provide dialysis products such as dialysis machines, dialyzers and related disposables.

Fresenius Medical Care aims to further consolidate its expertise and to use this competence as a basis for sustainable profitable growth. We aim to continuously improve our patients’ quality of life by offering them high-quality products as well as innovative technologies and treatment concepts.

Fresenius Medical Care’s corporate headquarters is in Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe, Germany. The North American regional offices are located in Waltham, Massachusetts, the Asian-Pacific regional offices are located in Hong Kong and the South American regional offices are in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Factsheet 2023

Facts and figures 2023

Gain an overview of our 2023 fiscal year with just one click.

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Fresenius Medical Care in numbers

  • Through our network of around 4,000 dialysis clinics, we provide dialysis treatments to more than 332,000 patients worldwide.
  • We offer dialysis products in around 150 countries.
  • We performed around 52 million dialysis treatments in 2023.
  • Around 120,000 employees work for Fresenius Medical Care worldwide.
  • We are the market leader in the production of hemodialysis machines.
  • We operate around 40 production sites in around 20 countries.
  • In 2023, Fresenius Medical Care generated revenue of around 19.45 billion euros.

Major locations

Research and development

Developing innovative products and continuously improving our renal therapies are intrinsic elements of our growth strategy.

Our worldwide research and development activities, which are centrally managed by the Global Research and Development division (GRD), enable us to develop products and renal therapies efficiently and to systematically promote the exchange of knowledge and technology between regions.

Global research and development strategy

Health care systems face major financial challenges. We aim to direct our research and development activities toward developing innovative products and renal therapies that not only meet high quality standards that improve clinical outcomes but are also affordable. As an operator of proprietary dialysis clinics and a provider of products for treating patients at home, we believe that these aims are entirely compatible.

Our research and development strategy contributes to our corporate strategy which aims to provide health care for chronically and critically ill patients across the renal care continuum by developing adjacent products and therapies for Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation, as well as by acquiring and developing complementary assets. Our globally orientated research and development strategy enables us to respond more effectively to the worldwide rise in demand for high-quality and cost-efficient treatment and therapy methods.

Starting January 1, 2023, we consolidated our previously decentralized health care products business, including research and development, in our Care Enablement segment. The products business is organized along the three treatment modalities we serve: In-center, Home and Critical Care.

In conjunction with our research and development activities, we collaborate with external partners to expand our comprehensive innovation and technology network. These partners include numerous academic institutions, such as research institutes at prestigious universities in the U.S. In the Renal Research Institute, a subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care in New York, we have a renowned institution in the field of clinical research into all aspects of chronic kidney failure. Together, we are working on fundamental issues relating to renal therapies. In addition, Fresenius Medical Care Ventures collaborates with start-ups and early-stage companies in the health care sector with the objective of promoting an open culture of innovation and enabling access to the latest technologies.

Research and development resources

In fiscal year 2023, Fresenius Medical Care spent a total of around €232 M on research and development (2022: €229 M), corresponding to around 6% (2022: 6%) of our health care product revenue. At the end of 2023, our patent portfolio comprised some 9,537 property rights in approximately 1,594 patent families, i.e. groups of patents linked to the same invention. Our research and development work in fiscal year 2023 produced around 60 additional patent families. Our broad portfolio of patents shall provide us with a wide range of treatment options in this highly competitive field in the future.

On December 31, 2023, 1,358 employees (total headcount) worked for Fresenius Medical Care in research and development worldwide (December 31, 2022: 1,235). They come from various backgrounds, and employees with medical, business and technical qualifications work alongside software specialists in interdisciplinary teams.

More than 840 employees – the majority of our research and development staff – are based in Europe. Most research and development activities are carried out at our facilities in Schweinfurt and Bad Homburg v.d. Höhe (Germany). Other development sites are in St. Wendel (Germany), Bucharest (Romania), Palazzo Pignano (Italy) and Krems (Austria). In the U.S., the Company maintains centers of excellence for the development of devices in Concord, California, and for dialyzers and other disposable products in Ogden, Utah. Development activities in Shanghai and Changshu (China) are focused on the growing demand for cost-effective dialysis systems in Asia and emerging markets.

The Global Research and Development organization coordinates collaboration and technology exchange among the various sites. Carrying out research and development responsibly is an intrinsic element of our innovative culture.

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