A company linked to Australian Nobel Prize winner Professor Barry Marshall is continuing to further its business in Asia as a result of the free trade agreement with Thailand.
Tri-Med International Pty Ltd, of which Professor Marshall is medical director, develops products to diagnose current and future human diseases, including the development of products to assist in the diagnosis of the Helicobacter Pylori, the bacterium which causes stomach ulcers and stomach cancers.
Tri-Med general manager Mark Jones said the Thailand-Australia FTA had made a substantial difference to the company’s sales into Thailand.
“The Free Trade Agreement has changed perceptions in the market and helped us make sales,” Mr Jones said in a statement.
“In Thailand, TAFTA has not only assisted us in supplying our products into the market, but also in costs and in ease of doing business. That adds up to a plus on all sides.”
Tri-Med is run by a group of scientists and professionals with more than 20 years’ experience working with Helicobacter Pylori.
Mr Jones said Tri-Med was acknowledged as a world leader in the development of diagnostic kits to detect the bacterium.
“We at Tri-Med feel we have a social obligation to make it easier for people who have this debilitating infection to be able to obtain a correct diagnosis,” he said.
Professor Marshall was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2005 for his work on discovery of the connection between the bacteria Helicobacter Pylori and gastric ulcers.
In March, Austrade opened an export facilitation office for Australian exporters in Phuket, Thailand.
Figures released earlier this year revealed two-way trade between Australia and Thailand grew by more than 30 per cent last year, while Australian exports were up by 34.7 per cent from $3.1 billion to $4.1 billion.
Thailand is now Australia’s 10th largest trading partner with strong export growth across the board. Commodities to benefit from the tariff reductions under TAFTA include milk and cream (up 62 per cent), copper (60 per cent), aluminium (47 per cent) and pharmaceutical products (24 per cent).
The TAFTA came into force at the start of 2005.
