NZ biotech industry being held back

NZ biotechnology will fall behind the rest of the world until uncertainties and overbearing government regulations for genetic modification are tackled, according to leading industry figures.

A two-day conference in Auckland heard Keith Steele, AgResearch chief executive, say his company, which spends NZ$90 million a year on research and development, had been approached last year by a New York venture capital firm looking to invest in its work with dairy cattle.

However, the firm took its money to China when it became clear that approval from the New Zealand government's Environmental Risk Management Authority would take too long.

In a similar vein, Fonterra signed a NZ$60 million contract in February to research genetic modification in the dairy industry, but the high cost of regulations may force it to cancel the deal.

Professor Peter Gluckman, a director of the Liggins Institute at Auckland University, said start-up companies in particular were suffering from the regulatory maze. "A month's [regulatory] delay might be 10% of a start-up company's available funds," he said.

"Brave political leadership is needed to demonstrate that biotech is a core part of New Zealand's future," Gluckman said. "We need to address all these issues or the industry will be in difficulties. It will not have a future."

John Forman, executive director of the Organisation for Rare Disorders, said the industry's battle would be wide-ranging, and would be fought on facts and emotion. "Many rare diseases will not be solved without advances in biotech," he said. "We need to win the hearts and minds of society at large, and the politicians. That is the area of greatest risk to our achievements."