Financing biotechnology ventures in Australia

Australia has a strong history of financing biotechnology ventures, with su ccessful biotechnology companies including CSL, Biota, and AMRAD. These com panies reflect a pool of extremely talented and productive Australian scien tists, whose early primary research and later commercialisable research has largely been funded by the Australian federal government. The Australian s tock exchange is relatively receptive to biotechnology companies, although at lower values than in international markets that provide public finance f or more developed biotechnology ventures. The great financing challenge for Australian biotechnology companies is bridging the gap between world-class commercialisable primary science and listing on the public market. Recent federal government initiatives have drawn significant resources to the earl y-stage venture capital sector to address this problem in an attempt to mak e available resources to seed and early-stage ventures with the discipline of experienced venture capital investors. While this is a very positive ste p, structural problems in the tax structure and lack of relevant skills in management for early-stage biotechnology companies will continue to challen ge Australian biotechnology ventures. Drug Dev. Res. 46:167-170, 1999. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.