AusBiotech Recommends Policy Changes to Boost Australia's Biotechnology Sector

By C. Rajan, contributing writer

Australia's key industry group, AusBiotech, has just made a submission to the Senate, calling for changes in the public policy to leverage the country's biotechnology sector. AusBiotech's submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics’ “Australian innovation system” Inquiry has specifically asked for a globally competitive tax policy, support for commercialization, incentives for commercial thinking, clinical trial reform, and other incentives for the biotech industry.

AusBiotech said that with the right policy settings for innovation, Australia’s biotechnology industry has the capacity to be a major contributor to the Australian economy and to improve lives. Australia, which recently ranked fourth in the world for its biotechnology achievement, needs to take the opportunity to exploit its current position by investing in a sustainable biotechnology sector or risk losing the momentum it has built over the years.

Some of the key recommendations from the submission are:

• Reforming taxes to make incentives an asset for innovation and business in Australia. This could be done by retaining the R&D Tax Incentive and lifting the cap for the refundable component. Additionally, introduction of fiscal and other incentives will enable Australian innovation to be internationally competitive, and retain the associated benefits once the research reaches commercialization.

• Addressing Australia’s issues in translating the research into commercialization by dedicating a portion of the Medical Research Future Fund proceeds to the translation of research and the establishment of a Translational Biotech Fund to manage and deliver the funds.

• Reform processes related to clinical trials by delivering on the recommendations of the Clinical Trials Action Group (CTAG), and creating a national clinical trials office within the health and medical research leadership body to drive clinical trial reforms.

AusBiotech said that it welcomes the Inquiry’s focus on translation of research into benefits for Australians, and the role of public policy in nurturing a culture of innovation.

Since 2000, Australia's government has made considerable investments in the biotechnology sector, with noticeable results. The latest Scientific American's 6th Annual Worldview Scorecard, 2014, has just ranked Australia number four in biotechnology in the world, up from number seven last year. The scorecard ranks countries’ biotech performance across seven categories, including productivity, intellectual property protection, enterprise support, education/ workforce, foundations, and policy – and once again, Australia performed extremely well. It joined the top positions in several areas including largest and fastest growing biotechnology public markets. Indeed, Australia’s 88 biotechnology companies listed on ASX were valued at more than $51 billion in 2013. Australian companies are doing especially well in the areas of medical devices, regenerative medicine and stem cells, vaccines, and oncology therapies.

At the AusBiotech conference late last year, AusBiotech's COO Glenn Cross said that the Australian biotechnology sector is experiencing a renaissance. According to Cross, the sector is recovering from the effects of the global financial crisis and is benefiting from the slowdown in investment in the resources sector.