Australia Healthcare Biotechnology

Australia’s Biotech 10 Year Plan consists of three key pillars: Pillar 1 - supporting world-class research and development; Pillar 2 – facilitating high-quality research and secure clinical development; and Pillar 3 – accelerating commercialization. View the plan at https://www.health.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/2022/03/biotechnology-in-australia-strategic-plan-for-health-and-medicine.pdf.

Health and medical research are one of Australia’s strongest research sectors and Australian researchers have a proven track record in generating scientific discoveries of global significance.  Australia has unique strengths in undertaking clinical trials to test the efficacy and safety of medical products and offers a pool of accomplished clinical trial researchers, a diverse patient demographic, a seasonal difference to northern hemisphere markets, a responsive regulatory system, and advanced digital capabilities, all of which make Australia an attractive destination for clinical studies.  The CSIRO is Australia’s national science agency and plays a key role in driving innovation and technology development and in fostering a strong science and medical biotechnology research base.  R&D Tax incentives encourage private sector investment in R&D activities.

Since 2017, Australia has increased its competitive standing in early-stage clinical trials (Phase I and Phase II), and in key areas including oncology, pneumology, neurology, and ophthalmology trials, while sustaining its share of late-stage trials (Phase III and Phase IV). Australia has a strong reputation as destination for conducting clinical trials due to the availability of medical experts and research staff of global standing, high quality of research and data, compliance with Good Clinical Practice, and high standards of data collection. The clinical trials sector employs 8,000 Australians and over 95,000 Australians took part in 1,880 clinical trials in 2019. 

Currently, there are 1,427 companies involved in the Australian life sciences industry.  The sector is dominated by medical technologies (devices and diagnostics) and digital health companies (577), followed by biotherapeutic companies (548) and food and agriculture biotechnology companies (302). In a broader context, a total of 2,654 organizations are involved in the Australian life sciences sector.  In the past two years, the sector has seen a significant growth of 43 percent and the number of companies undertaking biotech research and development has grown by 40 percent since 2019New South Wales and Victoria serve as the main hubs for the Australian life sciences industry with 73 percent of organizations located in these two states.  

For more information on the Australian biotechnology sector, contact: Office.Australia@trade.gov.