Just how much the clinical trials industry is worth in New Zealand is hard to establish.
The health select committee looking at the issue of improving the environment for such trials said there appeared to be no accurate records of the amount generated by trials in the last few decades.
Consultants Cranleigh Health said 10 years ago pharmaceutical trials were worth more than $100 million, but the health strategic initiatives review committee reckoned the aggregate annual clinical trial revenue is now less than $30 million.
The Researched Medicines Industry Association was one of those to disagree, saying the figure would be higher as more than $30 million was spent on research and development in 2009 by only six of its member companies.
The committee also understood Merck Sharp and Dohme (NZ) Ltd estimated total industry expenditure could be more than $45 million a year.
The committee concluded there had been a significant reduction in the value of the industry in New Zealand, indicative of a weakening competitive advantage with Australia, where the annual value in trials of pharmaceuticals alone was estimated to be $A450 million.
Cranleigh Health had estimated that by 2020 New Zealand could generate revenue of $250 million a year from clinical trials for basic medical research and attract $50 million from other sources, the committee said.
Medical device industries and those involving foods with proven health benefits could generate billions of dollars a year in export revenue.
Last year, the Australian Government had appointed an action group to cement Australia's position as a good place to conduct clinical trials, it said.
The committee considered it vital New Zealand's environment for clinical trials should be as good as, if not better, than Australia's.
In his submission to the committee, Sir Peter Gluckman, in his role as head of the centre for human evolution, adaptation and disease at the University of Auckland's Liggins Institute, indicated New Zealand's small market size would make some clinical trials unattractive, as decisions about where to undertake clinical research were increasingly driven by market considerations.
Whether the volume of some types of trials could be increased so New Zealand was a significant player depended on whether a more innovative climate for medical science was created.
He pointed out that for every public dollar spent on medical research per head of population in New Zealand, Australia spent $2.78, Denmark $6.03, Ireland $1.84, Singapore $6.73, the United Kingdom $4.62 and the United States $7.73.
