Bioscience proves big earner for economy

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The bioscience sector is proving to be a very profitable part of the economy, according to a Statistics NZ survey.

The Biosciences Survey 2011 found there were 150 businesses in this country that identified bioscience as their primary focus.

"They generated an average profit of $640,000 from bioscience work," the survey said. "This compares with an average profit of $117,000 for all organisations in New Zealand."

Statistics NZ said the bioscience sector covered areas such as aquaculture, medical testing, microbes and horticulture, which had applications in health foods, wine and beer making and animal and plant breeding.

Hamish Hill, of Statistics NZ, said many companies conducted bioscience as just one part of their business, so it was difficult to know exactly how much the country was earning from it.

"But what we do know is that purely bioscience-based organisations earned $677 million last year, over half of that from exports," Hill said.

Statistics NZ said these "core" bioscience companies employed nearly 2000 people, and tended to be small - with two-thirds having less than 10 staff.

The economic impact also included 330 other firms that used bioscience, but it was not their primary focus, Hill said.

"If we take a broad view of all the organisations using bioscience in some way, they earned $40 billion last year."

Auckland Regional Life Sciences Group chairman Peter Bradley said the survey results were "incredibly encouraging".

Many people in New Zealand still associated bioscience with Genesis Research & Development, he said.

The drug development company was a market darling in the early 2000s, soon after it listed on the NZX, when its share price soared. But major setbacks - such as the failure of its flagship psoriasis drug PVAC to get approval for sale from the US Federal Drug Administration - saw the company struggle and its shares slump.

"People [who bought Genesis shares] got burnt," Bradley said.

But he said there were many success stories in the biosciences sector - such as animal health product developer Argenta and natural digestive aid maker Vital Foods.

Bradley said he hoped the survey results would encourage the Government to give the sector more support.