Since its inception in the late 19th century, the Swiss pharmaceutical industry has relied on academically trained professionals and university research results. The universities, in turn, benefited early on from industrial services and monetary donations. The author traces the over hundred-year balancing act of pharmaceutical research between academia and industry, contributing to the understanding of knowledge production in the 20th century, which is also significant for understanding the current situation. Agreements on study plans and the filling of vacant professorships, industry-funded university laboratories, and the pursuit of academic recognition by industrial researchers are described in a practical manner and interpreted in a socio-historical context. The combination of a microhistorical approach and a long-term perspective opens up new insights.