Growing demand for Australian intellectual property and products such as vitamins that can be exported to China's rising middle class is expected to drive billions of dollars of Chinese investment in Australian healthcare in coming years. Chinese investment in Australia's healthcare sector has jumped from zero to $5.5 billion in the past three years and this could be the tip of the iceberg, according to KPMG.

New research to be released today, which interviewed investors in Chinese healthcare companies, finds previous Chinese inbound investment has been dominated by health supplements such as vitamins, but there is growing interest in Australian pharmaceutical, biotechnology and aged care companies.