One of the great things about our industry is the fact that innovation knows no boundaries. This means that with the right resources, individuals, companies, universities and even countries can excel in invention and innovation. However, this diversity has the potential to feed the future pipelines of research and development in the pharmaceutical industry only if it is exploited and harnessed to best effect.
Such innovation is not in short supply in Australia and New Zealand. Our antipodean colleagues are busily innovating, creating companies and floating them on their local bourses. In fact they are now producing more patents than ever. This is very good news for those who seek opportunities. The Australians and New Zealanders are also actively pursuing alliances.
Our own PharmaDeals data shows that since the year 2000 the number of deals made by Australian companies has increased about fivefold. In fact, deal making is growing three times faster in Australia than in the rest of the world. The key therapeutic areas for these antipodean deals are anticancer, neurological, antivirals and immunological. The PharmaDeals analysis also shows that 72% of all deals were outside Australia, and that nearly half (35% of all deals) of these were with US companies.
"... since the year 2000 the number of deals made by Australian companies has increased about fivefold. In fact deal making is growing three times faster in Australia than in the rest of the world."
The key issue for antipodean companies is the amount of funding available. Companies floating on the ASX, for example, typically raise around AUS$10 M. There are also concerns that companies embark on IPOs too early. There is no doubt that the capital markets need to develop more in response to the relatively recent emergence of biotech companies. In fact, several new venture capital funds have arisen recently. Most significant is the BioPacificVentures Fund, which has raised NZ$100 M. This fund has the Swiss venture firm Inventages as its second largest investor.
Another issue has been the lack of experienced pharmaceutical executives, particularly those with clinical development expertise. Conversely, one of the advantages of antipodean clinical research is that it is relatively less costly than that in Europe or the US so your 'Aussie' or 'Kiwi' dollar will go quite far, which is useful if you are trying to establish proof-of-concept clinical studies.
In my view there is a significant opportunity for large and mid-sized pharmaceutical companies to enter into research and development collaborations with the emerging biotech industry in the Antipodes.
Fintan Walton
Chief Executive Officer
PharmaVentures Ltd