Small proteins with big impact at AROTEC

Gracefield in Lower Hutt is home to a company that creates a product weighing less than an apple and small enough to fit into a wine glass. Despite its size, it’s worth millions and is exported to 33 countries around the world. 

In 2024, AROTEC supplied 39 grams of purified proteins to the world. It doesn’t sound like much. But those 39 grams represented 55% of the entire international supply. It was enough to enable tens of millions of tests to be carried out, looking for the biomarkers of many human and animal diseases. 

AROTEC is in the business of manufacturing premium diagnostic reagents. In simple terms, these are proteins that have been cleansed of all contamination. These hard-to-obtain materials are essential to the accurate detection of disease. Most of the reagents AROTEC supplies are used in the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases. These include coeliac disease, crohn’s disease, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and scores of other acute conditions. 

When AROTEC was established in 1996, a purity rate of around 85% was regarded as an industry standard. AROTEC Managing Director Sean Westbrook said the company set out to raise the purity levels in the material they supplied to 90% or better. Their customers loved it. “Greater purity radically reduces the incidence of false negatives or false positives.” 

The company’s competitive advantage is in part due to it being in New Zealand. According to Sean, it’s one of the best places in the world to do this work. “As you purify, you lose quantity at every stage. Because of New Zealand’s very strict biosecurity laws and its isolation, the raw material — the blood and plasma — we bring in is already at a high standard, and we can source plenty of it.” 

Being located in the middle of the country with easy access to both islands is also an advantage. Gracefield in Lower Hutt contains a cluster of world-class laboratories and tech businesses. There is a strong community of scientists and researchers contributing to the wider Wellington economy. AROTEC employs around 50 full-time staff, and turnover is low. There is a clear route for graduates to move into internships, which can lead to an offer of a permanent position. Being part of a hub of innovative companies is attractive to employees, too “There’s a synergy here”, explains Sean. “The proximity of the laboratories and the people who work in them creates some real magic. We meet up and talk, and from those relationships, we all do better work.”