Company profile

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. We are also in a strong position to provide life-saving therapies and treatments to patients suffering from acute kidney failure due to COVID-19.

Our research and development strategy contributes to our strategy which aims to provide health care for chronically and critically ill patients across the renal care continuum, in critical settings and by acquiring and developing complementary assets. It is globally orientated, enabling us to respond even better to the worldwide rise in demand for high-quality yet cost-efficient treatment and therapy methods. In doing so, we also take regional market conditions into account and offer a differentiated product range across all three key areas of our strategy.

In the future, we intend to deliver innovative, competitive products even more efficiently. As part of our organizational realignment, we will therefore consolidate our previously decentralized health care products business including research and development in the Care Enablement segment. The products business will be organized along the three treatment modalities that we serve: In-center, Home and Critical Care. We aim to complete the roll-out of the new organizational model in 2023. In addition to research and development activities within our Company, we collaborate with external partners with the aim of expanding our comprehensive innovation and technology network. These partners include numerous academic institutions, such as research institutes at prestigious universities in the U.S. Another partner is the Renal Research Institute in New York. This subsidiary of Fresenius Medical Care North America is 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. Fresenius Medical Care Ventures was established to increasingly collaborate 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.

In fiscal year 2021, Fresenius Medical Care spent a total of around €221 M on research and development (2020: €194 M), corresponding to around 6 % (2020: 5 %) of our health care product revenue. At the end of 2021, our patent portfolio comprised some 10,048 property rights in approximately 1,622 patient families, i.e. groups of patents linked to the same invention. Our research and development work in fiscal year 2021 produced around 103 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.

At December 31, 2021, 1,187 employees (full-time equivalents) worked for Fresenius Medical Care in research and development worldwide (December 31, 2020: 1,218). They come from various backgrounds: Physicians work side by side with software specialists, business economists and engineers in interdisciplinary teams. More than 720 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.