Biotechnology
The New Zealand Advantage
» A rich pool of creative and commercially minded scientists, and a culture of science commercialisation.
» Robust biosecurity measures and animal disease-free status that supports opportunities in animal-derived therapeutics, agricultural and industrial biotechnologies.
» A stable business environment, with research and development costs 50 percent lower than in Europe and the US.
An environment of pure potential
New Zealand’s geographic isolation and strong biosecurity regulations have created a superior environment for animal health, enabling us to develop and attract expertise in natural products, bioactives, and animal-derived therapeutics. Our talented scientists and business people have capitalised on their tradition of close interaction to create a culture of commercialisation and international collaboration. These environmental, scientific and commercial capabilities have perfectly positioned New Zealand to deliver high value, globally relevant products for the changing world.
New Zealand’s biotechnology sector leverages key industries where we already excel, developing niche strengths in human health research, agriculture and animal research, forestry, and forensic and environmental sciences.
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Current opportunities
Graftoss
Graftoss is developing an orthopaedic device which has bone graft and bone replacement applications.
The bone matrix product is a reinforced bone replacement implant derived from sintered bovine bone. The processed bone is reinforced with an organic biocompatible matrix, providing mechanical strength and aiding in bone regeneration.
Graftoss’s bone matrix technology has applications for human and veterinary grafting, including spinal fusion, hand and foot surgery, simple and complex fractures repair, joint reconstruction and dental implants. It can also be used as an antibiotic impregnated graft material for application in conditions such as osteomyelitis.
Graftoss is actively seeking partners in the development and commercialisation of this technology.
» For more information, get in touch with our investment specialist
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Living Cell Technologies
Living Cell Technologies (LCT) is a global pioneer in the development of revolutionary new living cell products for the treatment of diabetes, neurological disease and haemophilia.
DIABECELL® is LCT's treatment designed to normalise the lives of people with insulin dependent diabetes. DIABECELL® is implanted into patients and works by self-regulating and efficiently secreting insulin in the patient’s body.
LCT's encapsulation technology means that this procedure does not require the use of immunosuppressant drugs.
These implanted cells have led to near-normal blood glucose levels in patients, reduced the need for insulin injections and lessened episodes of high blood glucose that lead to long term complications. The treatment is also intended to eliminate life threatening episodes of low blood glucose levels.
LCT has developed a reliable and safe cell source in the form of its bio certified pig herd in New Zealand and also has Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) accredited manufacturing capabilities in New Zealand. The company has collaborations in Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland, Germany, Italy, Russia and the US.
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Migco Pharmaceuticals
Migco Pharmaceuticals is developing and commercialising new drug therapies for the prevention and treatment of migraine headaches.
MGX-008, Migco’s lead compound, is derived from the bark of Pinus radiata and represents a new approach to migraine prevention. Opportunities are also emerging for the treatment of other neurological conditions including ADHD and Alzheimers.
Migco has clinical safety data for MGX-008, successful human concept trials, and a highly skilled and experienced scientific management and governance team to manage the process through to market.
The company’s target market is severe migraine sufferers – more than 28 million in the US alone. To reach them, Migco intends MGX-008 to be marketed as a prescription medicine. Worldwide the potential market for migraine therapies is estimated at $4.1bn.
With a network of collaborations with leading neurologists, scientists and geneticists, Migco has established commercial alliances with manufacturers, contract research organisations and advisory consultants, across the US, Britain, India, Australia and New Zealand.
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Pictor
Pictor has developed a proprietary clinical diagnostic technology that enables simple and cost-effective testing of blood for a number of diseases.
The product, PictArrays™, allows eight tests to be simultaneously performed with a single drop of blood. Moreover, a single device can process sixteen samples in parallel.
A flatbed scanner is all that is necessary to read test results with customised software providing the outcome within two minutes of test completion. The low entry costs and easy implementation with minimum technical training make Pictor’s diagnostic tests accessible to a wide market.
PictArrays can be used without specialist training, is scalable from small clinics to mass screening centres, and allows a single technology to screen for multiple diseases.
Pictor is targeting products in the immunodiagnostic (tests that use antibodies to identify a large variety of diseases) segment of the in vitro diagnostic market. Initial efforts are focussed on autoimmune and infectious diseases.
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Symansis
Symansis produces biological tools for the global drug discovery industry.
Symansis has developed novel assays which analyse cell signalling pathways, allowing researchers to rapidly and cheaply determine the activation profile of test material. The assays allow researchers to simultaneously assay for activation of multiple kinases in a single experiment.
Symansis also offers human cell expressed proteins, complete with all the glycosylation moieties that ensure full physiological function. These proteins are of interest in the fields of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, obesity and cancer.
The company was founded by New Zealand and UK based professors with international reputations in the cell signaling field, and is now based in rural New Zealand, where many of the reagents are made in sheep.
Symansis believes in the importance of partnering and building strategic alliances enabling them to expand their product portfolio and provide value to the scientific community.
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Case studies
Bill Denny
Professor Bill Denny has a string of accomplishments as a medicinal chemist and drug designer, and is co-director of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre.
Download the Bill Denny case study (PDF, 90 kb)
BioPacificVentures
BioPacificVentures is the biggest life sciences fund in Australasia, which has attraced investment from the world’s largest food and nutrition company.
Download the BioPacificVentures case study (PDF, 89 kb)
Biotechnology industries
Download this PDF to read about the advantages New Zealand has in a range of biotechnology industries.
Biotechnology industry profiles (PDF, 72 kb)
Contact our investment specialist
New Zealand Trade and Enterprise has a New Zealand-based investment specialist who can provide advice on current opportunities in this area.
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