AusBiotech CEO Rebekah Cassidy and Bellberry's Kylie Sproston spoke at the BioPharmaDispatch conference about Australia's strengths as a location for the life sciences sector and the opportunities to attract more.
Ms Cassidy said, "The opportunity in Australia's life sciences sector is exciting. Currently, our members are primarily focused on the key topics that support the growth of their companies. So, workforce, skills, and capital attraction. We work closely with them on these issues. One thing we've noticed, and the conversation we've been having across the ecosystem most recently, is that Australia's life sciences ecosystem is in a growth phase. We are at a point of enablement in an ecosystem where more companies are reaching the medium enterprise phase and expanding into the world. We have some truly exceptional members who are currently undertaking some very exciting projects."
"This is a complex and highly competitive sector. It is highly commercial, but delivers incredible outcomes for human health, which is, of course, what we're all focused on - delivering better outcomes for patients in every part of the life sciences ecosystem.
"Incredible outcomes for human health and incredible potential outcomes for Australia's economy as well. The life sciences sector employs about 350,000 Australians. We're one in every 60 jobs. That includes a lot of you in the room. We are at a growth phase and we are poised for even greater growth in Australia at the moment, and that does enable a slightly different conversation with government at the moment as well about the opportunity for Australian life sciences to play an even greater role in the future health and wealth of our nation," said Ms Cassidy.
Bellberry's Sproston said the organisation was established in 2004 with one human research ethics committee. "We now have 12 committees. We provide oversight for approximately 40 per cent of Australia's clinical trials nationwide. In a typical year, half of all new drugs approved by the FDA will have been seen by a Bellberry committee at some point in their lifetime, which I think is representative of the scale of the oversight activities that we have, but is also really testament to the strength and reputation of the Australian research ecosystem in terms of the volume of international research that's placed here," she said.
Ms Sproston spoke ahead of the launch of Bellberry's annual clinical trial activity report. "There are some incredible headlines that, as I say, we are very proud of as Bellberry. As I mentioned, we oversee approximately 40 per cent of clinical trials, with about half of these being first-in-human and Phase 1 trials. Two-thirds of the activity that's described in the report is the result of inward investment. So international sponsors are placing clinical trials into the Australian ecosystem."
"The strength of Australia's health system and the reputation of our researchers is a significant driver of that," she said. "We all know sponsors are really after high-quality data as fast as they can. They need that data to be portable and accepted by jurisdictions around the world. Indeed, the Australian regulatory environment is strong, stable, and trusted by regulators worldwide, which makes the data effective. There are additional aspects, like the R&D tax incentive, of course. There are times when the exchange rate makes Australia comparatively cheaper, certainly as it is at the moment. And of course, it is worth identifying the clinical trial structure, the clinical trial notification pathway for those that aren't aware is unique around the world," said Ms Sproston.
Ms Cassidy said Australia's investment community is also maturing its engagement with the biotechnology sector. "We do a lot of work with the investment community. We've a roundtable coming up with the investment community in two weeks. There are parts of the investment community that are very engaged in Australia's life sciences ecosystem, understand it very well, and work across a range of our members. Additionally, other parts of the investment community are still becoming aware of the opportunities for investment in Australia that extend well beyond our traditional industries. And Australia is capable of doing a lot more than digging things out of the ground, which is very important still."
The AusBiotech chief executive stated that the organisation is focused on four key policy conversations with the Australian government.
"We mapped the policy ecosystem as much as we could for life sciences. And what we see is a spread of excellent intent. The Australian government wants to grow its life sciences sector. We are identified as a priority sector in multiple aspects of government policy. That government policy is also spread across no less than nine different federal government departments.
"So we have a well-intentioned policy focus that creates in some ways a bit of a patchwork, unfortunately. But doors are open, and people want to have conversations.
"Our goal is to have cohesive conversations. We held a roundtable discussion with some of our members and invited a few key government officials. We ended up with representatives from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Austrade, health, industry, and others. There's a desire and a willingness to work with us. There's absolutely a desire to hear the voice of industry, but it's still a very fragmented approach to hearing industry," said Ms Cassidy.
Ms Cassidy said AusBiotech supports the creation of a national Life Sciences Council. "We think it would help the government bridge some of the fragmented conversations that are currently being had. We also look across the global landscape and see that most of our peer nations, including France, the UK, Korea, Japan, and others, have launched their whole-of-government life sciences strategies over recent years. We're not talking about a strategy from one government department; we're talking about a strategy that bridges all parts of government. And Australia is one of those markets that hasn't done that yet," she said.
Ms Sproston said it remains critical that Australia maintains "an eye on what's happening in other jurisdictions and regulations elsewhere in the world."
"We need to make sure that we're not just keeping up, but taking steps to advance," she said. "There are opportunities to do more. One of the significant areas of regulatory reform in the US, for example, is the single ethical review for multicentre trials. Australia has had a framework for a single ethical review for multicentre trials for nearly 20 years. It is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination; the most significant issue is that it tends to operate in a parallel pathway between the private and public sectors. There's been improvement in that over the last five years, but undoubtedly we could do more."