NZ 'lagging behind' in drug research

Government "hostility" is forcing pharmaceutical companies to abandon research and development in New Zealand, costing the country up to $100 million in lost investment, according to a report released today.

The report commissioned by drug company Pfizer claimed New Zealand should be attracting more than five times the current amount invested in new medicine research and development.

Speaking at the Future of Medicines Policy Conference in Wellington today, the report's author Dr Edward Watson, from biotechnology and pharmaceutical consultant company Nazadel Ltd, said New Zealand has not attracted its "fair share" of pharmaceutical research and development.

The "compartmentalisation" policies of the Government pharmaceutical funding agency Pharmac were the single biggest reason for the withdrawal of private biomedical investment funding in this country.

"While ministers frequently talk about the merits of New Zealand having more smart industries, it has effectively excluded pharmaceuticals from its much vaunted Growth and Innovation Framework (GIF)," Dr Watson said.

He blamed the Government drug agency Pharmac. "By leaving the pharmaceutical industry solely to Pharmac, which has a very narrow focus, the Government is denying New Zealand the opportunity to develop a medicines industry."

Clinical research could help control costs in hospitals and stop the researchers being lured offshore, he said.

"For New Zealand patients, being meaningfully engaged in new medicines research would potentially give them access to novel medicines years in advance of those medicines being routinely available."

New Zealand patients had poor access to reimbursed new medicines compared to patients in Australia, he said.

"Since 1991 there has been little or no growth of private health R&D investment in this country.

"For many pharmaceuticals companies conducting research, New Zealand is simply not on the radar because of the hostile business environment here."

However, Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said it was "overly simplistic" to blame pharmaceutical funding policies for a lack of growth in research and development.

"The links between the amount spent on research in any given country and pharmaceutical prices in that country are tenuous," he said.

The location of research was dependent on a number of factors, including size of the population, the skills and knowledge of local researchers, and economic factors such as currency and taxation.

"Pharmac's role is to manage pharmaceutical expenditure and improve health outcomes for patients, and it has been successful in performing this role," Mr McNee said.

"Overall, NZ subsidises more medicines than Australia."

* The report released today was called "Pharmaceutical Research and Development in New Zealand - On the Brink of the Abyss".

- NZPA