Biotechnology & Laboratory Insurance
Advice, products, research assets, samples, facilities and data - protected in a structure that ordinary business insurance was never designed to provide.
Specialist
Market access
Hard-to-place
Our focus
Australia
National broking
Recognition
The Tank take
Biotechnology and laboratory businesses can need professional indemnity, products and public liability, property, cyber, clinical trials and specialist extensions for research assets or items in their care. The mix depends on the research, its end use and the commercialisation stage.
Before approaching insurers, Tank works through the organisms, samples, compounds, intended use, containment, human or animal involvement, care, custody and control, outsourced work and what eventually leaves the laboratory. End use is often the single biggest appetite driver.
Where laboratory risk actually concentrates
A laboratory's risk changes materially when research moves from internal experimentation to customer services, field trials, animal use or commercial supply.
Human health, livestock, food-chain, environmental and industrial applications attract very different appetite. The platform technology matters less to an underwriter than what it will ultimately touch.
Customer samples, cell lines, organisms and equipment in your care can be difficult or impossible to replace. Ordinary contents cover was not designed for them - care, custody and control needs specific discussion.
Licensing, kits, compounds, formulations and supplied outputs introduce product and contract exposures the moment they leave the lab. The transition from R&D to supply is an insurance trigger point.
Freezers, utilities, contamination controls, backup storage and specialist equipment shape both property risk and the feasibility of restoring research after a loss.
When end use split the market
An anonymised Tank placement showing why final application can outweigh the quality of the science.
A start-up performed genomic analysis, phage characterisation and laboratory R&D with no commercial product sales. Two specialist life sciences markets declined - not on the science, but because the ultimate application was livestock health. The client had initially asked for PI and PL even though it provided no consultancy, so we reframed the risk as laboratory R&D: PI came out, products-related and R&D extensions stayed in, and staff and contractor roles were clarified.
The result: Terms obtained from a specialist market, subject to recourse and excluded-product review. End use drove appetite more than the pre-revenue stage did.
Anonymised and rounded. Appetite for any end use is a dated observation, not a permanent market position.
Complex science deserves a precise submission
Tell us what you advise on, build, test, supply or operate. We take the risk to insurers with genuine life sciences appetite and explain the terms before you decide.
The biotech and laboratory structure to test
Core sections
- Professional indemnity for research, scientific consulting and analysis services
- Products and public liability once outputs, samples or kits are supplied
- Property cover for laboratories, equipment and stock
- Cyber for research data and platform dependencies
Specialist additions
- R&D restoration for research lost to an insured event
- Care, custody and control extensions for customer samples and equipment
- Clinical trials or animal-study sections where studies are run
- Management liability for investor-backed companies
Pure advisory work may need PI as the anchor; a supply or licensing model shifts the anchor to products. Some laboratory businesses need neither PI nor a consultancy label - misdescribing the model is a common cause of poor terms.
How we place laboratory and biotech risk
Lead with the end use
We put the ultimate application in front of insurers from the outset, because it is the first thing that decides appetite.
Map what leaves the lab
Products, samples, compounds, reports and licensed IP each carry different exposure once they leave your control.
Value the research
Replacement cost, restoration time and duplicate storage are documented so research assets can be insured rather than guessed at.
Check the current Australian guidance
Regulatory obligations sit outside your insurance policy. These official sources are the starting point.
External government and industry sources. Tank Insurance is not responsible for their content; confirm current requirements with the relevant body.
Related life sciences guides
Explore cover by business activity
Questions about Biotechnology & Laboratories
Potential sections include PI, products and public liability, property, cyber, management liability, trials, recall and R&D restoration. The business model - advisory, R&D, supply or licensing - decides the mix.
Not necessarily. Replacement cost, scientific value, contamination and items in your care or custody need specific discussion and often specific extensions.
The same technology can have different severity and appetite when applied to human health, animals, livestock, food or environmental release. In one Tank placement, two markets declined a technically strong laboratory risk purely on livestock end use.
Potentially, if it supplies kits, samples, compounds, formulations or other outputs. Pure advisory work may instead create primarily PI exposure - and some lab businesses need products cover with no PI at all.
General information only. This page does not take account of your objectives, financial situation or needs and is not legal advice. Cover depends on the insurer, policy wording, limits, excesses, exclusions and information disclosed. Read the relevant policy documents and obtain professional advice before deciding.
Put your life sciences risk in front of the right markets
Tell us what you research, build, test, supply or operate, plus any overseas exposure. We will explain the available terms and exclusions before you decide.