Opposition to proposed R&D Tax Incentive change unites Australia's biotech, medtech and health tech sector
AusBiotech
6 June 2026
Proposed Budget changes to the Research and Development Tax Incentive (RDTI) will disproportionally impact Australia’s biotech, medtech and health tech sector forcing more home-grown companies to consider moving overseas.
Nine leading health and life sciences organisations: AusBiotech, Pathology Technology Australia, MTPConnect, ANDHealth, Life Sciences Queensland, Life Sciences WA, BioNSW, BioMelbourne Network and ARCS Australia, have co-signed a letter to Treasurer Jim Chalmers asking for an urgent review of RDTI changes proposed in the Federal Budget.
While the sector shares concerns regarding a number of tax changes including to CGT, a proposal to limit the RDTI’s long standing refundable tax offset for companies less than 10 years old is particularly unworkable.
This is because it routinely requires more than a decade to progress life changing and saving health discoveries through rigorous clinical, regulatory and market access pathways.
AusBiotech CEO Rebekah Cassidy said the proposed changes were already creating uncertainty for Australian companies who are making long range decisions about where they should undertake clinical development programs.
“The long timeframes required to translate and develop medical research into health products for patients are not new news. It is well understood by industry and government that bringing these critical health products to market routinely takes well beyond a decade,” Ms Cassidy said.
“Companies in our sector spend years dedicated to the development of new medical products that help people in Australia and around the world.
“They bridge multiple commercial ‘valleys of death’ as they spin out of research into pre-clinical development, clinical trials, regulatory approval and manufacturing scale-up before revenue generation through market access is even possible.”
The Australian Government has long understood the length of time it takes to get a product to market, and recognised this as recently as last year:
- The 2025 National Health and Medical Research Strategy Issues Paper from the Department of Health and Aged Care averaged the timeframe at 17 years.
- The 2024 Medical Science Co-investment Plan from the Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources references a ‘decades’ long process.
“Our sector has had a longstanding, collaborative working relationship with governments, so we were blindsided by this proposed change which occurred with no consultation,” Ms Cassidy said.
“The proposed tax change doesn’t recognise commercial timelines or our sector’s significant contribution.
“Cumulatively, biotechnology has been Australia's largest value-add export industry outside primary industries since 2016 and it supports more than 350,000 jobs across almost 3,000 organisations.
“We are struggling to understand why the government would jeopardise that by making changes that are fundamentally misaligned with long held understanding of the commercial, regulatory and market access realities of this important sector.
“AusBiotech has been engaging at the highest levels of the Australian Government and across the parliament since the changes were announced.
“We want to work with the Government to get these policy settings right and at speed so we can give Australia’s biotech, medtech and health tech companies the policy certainty they need to continue to thrive. We just need Government to meet us at the table.”
ENDS
Media: William Sparling [email protected] 0416 628 276
About AusBiotech
AusBiotech is Australia's leading national and global advocate for life sciences, working to help its more than 3500 members thrive by shaping policy, creating connections, and fostering knowledge sharing. With an unrivalled national convening power, AusBiotech supports its members’ growth by building an Australian life sciences ecosystem that leads in development and commercialisation, creating high-quality, innovative life sciences companies.