Biotech sector calls for rescue package

Australia's biotech sector is pushing for a $600 million rescue package needed, it
says, to ensure its 1,200 companies survive the global economic slow-down.
Industry group AusBiotech says a quarter of the companies, which include fledgling
pharmaceutical and medical supplies companies, do not have cash to operate beyond
June.
Others are facing pressure to move offshore as governments, including in Singapore,
offer incentives while local sources of private funding dry up.
AusBiotech says the Rudd government must move to show its support.
A move on Wednesday to allow access to an $83 million fund was a fraction of what
was needed.
"It's a drop in the ocean, it's obviously doing something but it's a drop in the
ocean," said AusBiotech chair Dr Deborah Rathjen.
"What we're really looking for here is not a bail-out, but really an invigoration of
investment and enthusiasm by the government ... in the growth of new industries for
Australia."
The industry is calling for $600 million package also including tax relief, and a
joint taxpayer-industry funded grants scheme to ensure new and existing work can
continue.
The package should be rolled out over three years and it must be forthcoming in the
May budget, said AusBiotech chief executive Dr Anna Lavelle.
"A lot of companies are hanging on, waiting to see what the government does in May,"
Dr Lavelle said.
Taxpayer help was vital to ensure the companies survived "through the next 24
months", she said, after which investor confidence would hopefully be restored.
Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr on Wednesday announced funds from the $83
million Innovation Investment Follow-on Fund (IIFF) would "flow to companies as soon
as possible".
"It is essential that we help these fledgling companies ride out the crisis,"
Senator Carr said in a statement.
He said the government was paying for the IIFF by re-investing money returned to the
fund when the firms it supported were floated or sold.