AusBiotech rejects package to further cut R&D Tax Incentive

In response to the ‘ Ferris, Finkel, Fraser’ Review of the Research & Development Tax Incentive, trade group AusBiotech says it does not support the proposed changes as a package, as it is a firm belief that this effort to limit or divert the R&D Tax Incentive will damage its hard-won momentum in life sciences, especially the stimulation of the clinical trials environment – and argues that any change ought to exclude and keep from harm R&D in clinical trials.

In particular, AusBiotech opposes the A$2 million ($2.6 million) cap on the refundable claimants. The submission said the proposed package does not support the typical biotech small- to medium-sized enterprise (SME), the engine room of Australian biotechnology. It will disproportionally disadvantage the sector and in turn impact the entire development pipeline and ecosystem in Australian life sciences. Any measure that compromises SME growth is unpalatable and nonsensical.

Comments from the Report’s authors, since its launch, that the impact of this measure will be “slight” or that other policy measures, like the investor incentive or the Biomedical Translation Fund, will balance out, fail to understand the impact that is likely in the SME biotechnology sector, its broader ecosystem, or the nature of clinical trials.