Swisse defends research
March 3, 2014
Following the widespread
media interest surrounding
complementary giant Swisse
Wellness $15m research program
to be conducted at La Trobe
University (PD 04, 07 & 12 of Feb),
the company has defended not
only itself and its background of
research and development but that
of Australian research in general.
Citing the resignation of Ken
Harvey from the university as
a “publicity stunt for a final
farewell,” Swisse Wellness chief
executive officer Radek Sali said
that although Harvey insisted
that such research should only be
funded by the National Health and
Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
or Australian Research Council
(ARC), ARC ceased funding medical
research in 2012.
In addition, Sali claimed that the
top 10 patent protected drugs
that are prescribed by doctors in
Australia all rely on efficacy from
research that was industry funded.
“This is absolutely no different to
what Swisse is aiming to do with
the support of additional industry
players, government and other
financial backers.
“Given that Swisse does not
hold patent protection for any
products to be researched by
CMEC, it means that the entire
nutraceuticals industry can benefit
from the research findings.”
Swisse also argued that there
is a pool of $800m dollars from
Government for which health and
medical researchers compete but
currently only $800,000 or 0.1% of
that is allocated to complimentary
and alternative medicine research.
According to Swisse, NHMRC
funding statistics show the
average yearly commitment over
the last decade to the field of
complimentary and alternative
medicine research is a 0.2% of the
total funding.
In Australia approximately 65%
of total research funding comes
from industry versus 21% from the
NHMRC, Swisse said.
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