01 October 2007

Being disease free, having a low cost structure and having world-leading agriculture expertise is the enviable trifecta New Zealand offers investors in animal-derived biological and therapeutic products.

“We are the only developed country relying on primary production as a major source of our GDP,” Michelle Sullivan, Investment Manager, Biotechnology, at Investment New Zealand told an international online audience, “and as a result, the cutting-edge agricultural expertise and the technology that goes into farming in New Zealand are second to none.”

New Zealand’s animals are free of all major animal diseases, and therefore the country has the highest possible ranking from OIE, the World Organisation for Animal Health.

New Zealand maintains its excellent animal health by ensuring strict border security to capitalise on the geographic isolation of its islands. In addition, a temperate climate allows animals to live outside all year round and be fed mainly on grass.

“We’re pretty far from anywhere,” Sullivan pointed out to the web audience. “It is that geographical isolation which, when you couple it with our temperate climate and our strict border security, means that animal-derived biologicals produced in New Zealand carry the lowest possible risk.”

To monitor animal health, New Zealand has exhaustive traceability of its products. A consumer, for instance, can pick up a steak in London and that product’s barcode will give the full history of the animal.

Said Sullivan, “We have a fairly privileged position when it comes to animal health and we want to keep it that way.”

That means that by dealing with New Zealand, investors can diversify their risks. Such diversification protects, for example, against the sorts of difficulty a manufacturer of animal-derived biologicals located solely in Britain would have faced during the 2001 outbreak of foot and mouth disease.

As well as diversifying risks, international investors can take advantage of New Zealand’s low cost structure – New Zealand’s research and development costs are about 70 per cent less than in other locations, particularly North America and Western Europe.

And already international investors are taking advantage of what New Zealand has to offer. New Zealand’s largest state-owned research institute, AgResearch, has entered into a partnership with one of the world’s leading transgenic animal companies, Pharming Group NV from the Netherlands, to develop and produce recombinant human lactoferrin in New Zealand. Under the partnership, human lactoferrin will be produced in the milk of a genetically modified herd of cows and will then be extracted from the milk for use in medical applications.

For those interested in investing in New Zealand, Investment New Zealand should be the first port of call. Investment New Zealand, as part of the national economic agency New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, can draw on the full range of the New Zealand Government’s resources and information.

“What we are here for,” said Sullivan, “is to help you cut through red tape and generally make it easy for you to work with New Zealand.”

For more information you can view the one-hour Investment New Zealand-sponsored presentation, hosted by online biotech news service FierceBiotech, here: http://w.on24.com/r.htm?e=42279&s=1&k=BF03045E3C35F44A768FA1BC34F8312C&partnerref=nznews

For more information, please contact:

damian.lynch@nzte.govt.nz

+64 9 354 9153