Report Hails ‘Golden Period’ for Life Science Companies

More companies were formed and more investment was raised than previously recorded in the UK Life Science sector for the period 2012-2016, according to the 2017 BioCity UK Life Science Start-Up Report, which has the benefit of 12 years of data on the creation and funding of life science companies.

Author Dr Glenn Crocker, CEO of specialist life sciences incubator the BioCity Group said: “The period of 2012-2016 has truly been a golden period for life science companies, with more companies being formed than previously recorded and more investment being raised. The total amount invested in life science companies formed during the 5 year period 2012-2016 was £780M compared to £380M in our last report.

‘It is also interesting to note that the scale of investment in early stage companies jumped significantly thanks to a small number of publicly listed funds, including Woodford Investment Management, Syncona and Touchstone.

“However, investment is becoming more polarized with 86% of funds going to companies located in London, the South East and East of England and just 14% to companies across the rest of the nation.

‘With expected forthcoming changes to the funding landscape, the report provides a unique insight into the state of the nation for life sciences and will highlight where the challenges and opportunities lie in the future. It is important that this encouraging momentum is maintained and that large scale investments into companies continues so they can compete on the world stage.”