Abstract:
The prevalence and use of Natural Health Products (NHPs) is increasing across the globe and throughout New Zealand. Their reputation of being an affordable and natural alternative to pharmaceuticals with fewer side effects explains the increase in growth in the sector. As these products can be used as both preventatives and therapeutics, the safety, quality and efficacy with which they are produced is of great importance to national lawmakers. Innovation and promises of improved health must be balanced with the risks associated with relaxed regulatory requirements. The New Zealand government has proposed a new regulatory bill to govern these products called the Natural Health and Supplementary Products Bill. The bill aims to tackle quality, safety and efficacy issues in the NHP industry and outlines proposed mandatory guidelines for product notification, permitted ingredients, health claims, labels and advertising, manufacturing standard requirements and more. Previous research has examined the perceptions of the NHP industry on the proposed regulatory changes and briefly examined the perceived implications of the bill. Aside from building on this work, this research aims to fill a gap in the literature and ascertain the specific business responses of NHP companies and to identify the issues around company compliance. To achieve this, a qualitative analysis was conducted using semi-structured interviews with NHP companies. The information extracted from the interviews was supplemented with secondary data from written submissions made regarding the bill by appropriate NHP companies. An inductive approach to thematic analysis of the results revealed both positive and negative perceptions of the proposed regulations showcasing a similar trend to previous research (Singh, 2012). Furthermore, companies specified their perceived business responses to the regulatory changes which included changes in product line, clinical trial activity and growth. Issues with compliance with the new regulations ranged from a lack of communication and knowledge resources to increased financial liabilities. In general the results offered support for the theory of innovation-based endogenous growth with some exclusions. Aside from presenting the general views of NHP entities on the bill, in describing the lack of resource availability needed for regulatory compliance, the findings highlight the stakeholder recommendations for assistance.