Commercial laboratories across the UK are becoming part of a silent, but significant revolution in the way the life science industry operates. The impact, according to the UK Life Science Start up report published today, is already affecting the way the industry is structured, how and where new start ups come from, and the source and nature of early-stage finance.

The overall picture is of an industry in transition, with a changing base of businesses and an evolving funding ecosystem.

The UK Life Science Start-up report 2011 is the second comprehensive study of early stage life science firms. This new study considers companies formed in the period 2006-2010 and allows a comparison with the findings of the 2010 report which looked at the period 2005-2009. The findings provide an insight into where the new start-ups are coming from, what fields they specialise in and the investment they are raising.

Author of the report and CEO of BioCity, Dr Glenn Crocker will draw from these findings, and call for action, in his presentation to the gathering of life science industry experts at the 2011 Genesis conference in London on 1^st December.

Key report findings:

• The number of life science start-ups has dropped in the period 2006-2010 compared with the period 2005-2009
• Four-fifths of the decline in the number of start ups can be accounted for by a drop in university spin-outs.
• Two-thirds of the new firms are in the service or med-tech sub-sectors
• Almost half of all life science start ups are located in a UK bioincubator or biopark
• Total investment raised by life science start ups declined by 12% in the period 2006-2010 (£329 million) compared with 2005-2009 (£372 million)
• The largest fall in investment activity was seen in the number of companies receiving investment in the sub-£500k range.
• 74% of total investment into life science start ups went to companies in the South East and East of England.
• Significant funds provided by Imperial Innovations, Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Manchester have created a Premier League of institutions, attracting good quality people and providing a high quality research base.
• 40% of the total funding raised by the start ups is concentrated in just 8 companies
• Early stage businesses are starting to turn to to China for funding, although this invariably means transferring activities to the country
• The increasing professionalization of university drug discovery for large clients, is creating new research engines for the pharmaceutical industry.
• There are greater opportunities for pharmaceutical investment into small firms (£66 million raised annually by the start ups equates to just 1% of Roche's annual R&D budget).
  

Report author Dr Glenn Crocker believes the changing global landscape in the life sciences sector presents both opportunities and challenges. Opportunities for new, enterprising teams capable of early stage drug discovery, and challenges as the funding regime continues to squeeze this innovative start up community.

"If the report tells us one thing it is that we need to step-up our collective efforts to help high quality start-up firms to benefit from the transitions in our industry. Now is the time to extend tax incentives for private investment into firms with potential and to create the right fiscal environment for large pharmaceutical financing of new ventures.

"Bioscience incubators, such as BioCity, have been working for some years now alongside commercially-astute top scientists who have spotted international market opportunities. Many are former employees of major players like AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Merck.  It is possible to retain their knowledge and expertise if we take them and their business ventures seriously. My hope is that this report helps the government to seize the moment and work with us all to build a strong, sustainable and world-beating life science industry."

The UK Life Science Start-up report will be published each year based on a rolling five-year period in order to undertake further trend analysis. To receive a copy of the 2011 report email m.knaggs@biocity.co.uk  or download at http://tinyurl.com/Transition-Report . Join the debate on LinkedIn BioCity Group.