The two lines in the budget papers that could bury Australia’s biotech sector
A little-noticed budget measure capping the refundable R&D tax incentive at 10 years threatens to cut off Australian biotech companies at the moment they are most expensive to run.
A single paragraph in the federal budget papers, largely overlooked amid the furore over capital gains tax, could have dire consequences for funding in Australia’s biotech sector.
That’s the warning from biotech industry participants who fear the Albanese government’s unexpected plan to limit the expanded R&D tax incentive to firms younger than 10-years could at the very least push clinical trials offshore, and at worst might even force Australian companies to close their doors.
Melbourne biotech company Cartherics, which is developing off-the-shelf immunotherapies focusing on ovarian cancer, triple negative breast cancer and endometriosis, has recently finished building a gene-modified immune cell manufacturing facility, and is preparing to begin its first clinical trials in ovarian cancer patients later this year.
The company, which last month celebrated its 10th anniversary, is one of a number of biotech companies blindsided by budget changes that cap eligibility for the refundable Research and Development Tax Incentive at 10 years.
