In this issue
- Insights from our Executive Director
- Events and member News
- Executive Council elections
Insights from our Executive Director
This month I ticked off a priority bucket list item by being a part of organising a ministerial biotech agenda, and accompanying the Minister. Last month, Hon. Judith Collins KC was attending the Aerospace Summit in Adelaide to announce a New Zealand and Australia partnership to advance space science. She had a free afternoon and was keen to explore biotech. In a whirlwind 24 hour trip, a group of New Zealanders from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), Malaghan Institute/RNA Platform, Ferrier Institute, Bridgewest and I were able to join the Minister and showcase the significant infrastructure support of the Adelaide BioMed City. The Adelaide BioMed City (ABMC) Innovation District, is a A$3.8 billion health and medical innovation district in the heart of Adelaide. The cluster includes leading-edge anchor institutes and companies connected with startups, business incubators and accelerators.
Thank you to Invest South Australia, Department of State Development for facilitating the agenda and MPTConnect for making the company meetings possible.
We also had the pleasure of visiting BioCina who provide scientific and operational excellence from process development through the current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) clinical and commercial scale manufacturing of microbial, pDNA and mRNA-based vaccines. They’ve experienced amazing growth, thanks to their great customer service and consistent, on-time delivery of high quality products. This really resonated with me as a key factor in their success. However, the Australian Government has supported the sector with excellent foundations – funding infrastructure and R&D tax credits included. This certainly helps companies succeed and excel.
Meanwhile, there is plenty happening in New Zealand regarding gene regulations and a new report has been published by the Australian Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR), Community attitudes towards gene technology.
We have also seen significant media interest. This includes good discussion about the possible impact on our exported products. The NBR (paywalled) have published an interesting series on the pros and cons of relaxing our gene modification laws:
- GMO: Will AgResearch’s HME ryegrass live up to its early hype?
- GMO: Where will be the biggest benefits under looser regulations?
- Australian GMO regulation a potential model for New Zealand
- GMO: Would you eat a GE apple a day?
- GMO: The twisted route to a sterile Douglas fir pine
- GMO debate heats up again
In other news, what are the risks of changing GE regulations? Plus, biotechnology is all around us, says molecular biologist Revel Drummond.
Executive Council elections:
Nominations are now open for the BioTechNZ Executive Council. Learn more about the available roles and responsibilities here.
Save the dates for our forthcoming events
Bioscience Enterprise Networking event series:
- Date: Friday 23 August
- Date: Friday 20 September
- Date: Friday 25 October
- Date 28 or 29 November
Time: 5:00 – 7:30 pm (Arrival from 4.45 pm)
Location: SBS Reception Lounge, School of Biological Sciences, 3A Symonds Street, Auckland.
Event Type: Physical
Cost: Free
BioTechNZ Webinar: BIO2024 USA Insights
Join us online for insights from the convention and discussions for our involvement in 2025.
Date: Thursday 22 August
Time: 12.00pm
Registration information to come
Member News
There’s plenty happening in our sector and we extend our thanks to our new members for joining us. To our long serving members, your continued support is driving significant progress for New Zealand’s biotech sector, thank you.
Here are a couple of notable recent achievements:
- Kimer Med $10m closer to goal of virus eradication
- The award-winning company recently secured $10 million from its lead investor as part of its Series A capital raise.
- Callaghan Innovation has appointed specialist Deep Tech venture capital firm Pacific Channel as its newest Deep Tech Incubator Programme partner.
- The Malaghan Institute is progressing with a phase 2 clinical trial of a new CAR T-cell therapy at Wellington Hospital this month for B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
Please send us your good news so we share with your fellow members.
