Bioscience companies on P.E.I. are looking forward to having more capital available thanks to a tax break the province announced for their industry Thursday.

'Companies will grow faster than they otherwise would have.'-Premier Pat Binns

Emerging and established companies in the bioscience sector are being offered a rebate on provincial corporate income tax for up to 10 years.

"This tax break today is about capital," said Regis Duffy, owner of Biovectra, one of the companies that will benefit from the rebate.

"Capital is a scarce commodity. The capital that we save here is going to be reinvested."

Premier Pat Binns is hoping Biovectra will be one of several companies reinvesting the rebate, enlarging the sector, and creating more jobs.

Faster growth, more companies: Binns

Companies based in the province with more than 10 employees and a payroll of more than $750,000 are eligible for the tax rebate. Binns said a similar tax incentive for the aerospace sector introduced in 2004 has helped create 600 new jobs.

"Companies will grow faster than they otherwise would have when they have access to additional capital through avenues like tax incentives," said Binns.

"It will also enable companies that are already here to plow more money into new projects they have in mind, to hire additional staff, to take steps in development of new products."

Binns is hoping the tax incentive will attract new companies to the province.

The province calculates the bioscience sector generates $60 million in revenue annually and employs 650 people.

Bolstered by the establishment of a National Research Council Nutrisciences Institute, the province, research institutions and private companies on the Island have come together to form the P.E.I. BioAlliance to further develop the sector in the province.

The BioAlliance has set goals of $200 million in revenues and 1,000 employees in the private sector by 2010.

As the tax incentive is structured, companies will pay their corporate income tax, and then apply to P.E.I. Business Development, a government agency, to have the money rebated.