Novotech says Federal Budget R&D Tax Support Keeps Australia Globally Competitive for Quality Clinical Trials

Sydeny, June 02, 2018: Leading Asia Pacific CRO Novotech commended the Turnbull Government’s Federal Budget decision to exclude clinical trials activity from a A$4m cap on cash refunds, or any lifetime cap on refunds.

Novotech CEO Dr John Moller said the move reaffirms Australian’s lead position in attracting foreign investment for drug development and sends a message to the international biopharma community that Australia is the place to conduct research.

“The clinical trial sector not only delivers around A$1billion to the Australian economy annually, it also supports the Australian biopharma industry growth and expertise for the development of new life-changing therapies for both the Australian and world markets.

Novotech is an Asia-Pacific specialist contract research organization (CRO) established in 1996, headquartered in Australia with offices in eleven countries throughout the region.

See the latest data on Australian and also Asia clinical trials here: www.novotech-cro.com/resources.

“More than A$650 million in clinical trial investment each year comes from overseas biopharma companies wanting fast yet high-quality research. According to our clients, the R&D Tax Incentive is a significant factor in their decision to invest in Australian research,” said Dr Moller.

He said the Government announced in the budget that it is excluding R&D tax offsets for clinical trials from the $4 million cap on cash refunds, “recognising the critical role of R&D expenditure on clinical trials in developing life changing drugs and devices.”

According to the Budget announcement the Government will also:

” … introduce a new research and development premium for companies with aggregated annual turnover of $20 million or more, which provides higher rates of R&D support for higher R&D intensity (that is, the proportion of R&D expenditure over total annual expenditure).

The research and development premium will provide multiple rates of non-refundable R&D tax offsets, increasing with the intensity of the claimant’s incremental R&D expenditure.

The … reforms will support and reward higher, more intensive, additional R&D investment.”

ACN Newswire