Life Sciences Insurance Case Studies
Real Tank placements across biomedical consulting, scientific data, therapeutic devices, consumer products, biotech R&D and digital health. Anonymised, rounded, and framed around the insurance decision rather than the client's identity.
Specialist
Market access
Hard-to-place
Our focus
Australia
National broking
Recognition
The Tank take
These are real placements: the premiums, limits and decline counts are genuine, with client identities removed and figures rounded. Together they show how activity boundaries, end use, supply chains and geography decide life sciences outcomes.
Historical terms are evidence, not a promise. A comparable business can receive different terms because activity, revenue, limits, countries, contracts, claims and insurer appetite all change. Use these to understand how placements work, then get current terms for your own risk.
Placements with the full story published
Five placements documented in detail, from first decline to bound cover.
A specialist biomedical engineering consultant advising on biocompatibility for implantable device development. The occupation sat outside mainstream appetite until the risk reached an underwriter that understood the work.
The result: Combined PI ($1M) and Public Liability ($5M) placed through a specialist underwriter at around $1,900 annual premium.
A sole-trader scientific and data consultant supporting medical research teams across Australia and overseas. Standard Australian PI markets declined on overseas exposure and niche occupation.
The result: Professional indemnity placed through a specialist market at around $900 annual premium, within a sole-trader budget.
A specialist maternity support business hiring low-voltage therapeutic devices to expectant clients. The hire-and-reward model combined with imported medical devices sat outside mainstream appetite.
The result: Public and product liability on the hired devices placed through a specialist underwriter at around $2,800 annual premium.
A new consumer product business bringing a dermatologically tested baby skincare product to market under AICIS registration. Australian formulation, overseas manufacturing. All standard markets declined.
The result: Product liability placed through a specialist market at around $2,900 annual premium, allowing the brand to launch retail distribution.
A metro Sydney importer of children's mealtime goods compliant with Australian mandatory safety standards. Retailers required $20M combined public and product liability before listing the products.
The result: $20M Public and Product Liability placed through a specialist underwriter at around $1,200 annual premium after the main market panel declined.
Premiums and outcomes described are specific to each client, anonymised and rounded. Your own terms will depend on your circumstances and the insurer.
Shorter lessons from across the life sciences category
Additional anonymised placements, each documented in the relevant guide.
A consultancy serving biotech sponsors and CROs, working inside the trial ecosystem without sponsoring trials or treating patients. The submission separated consultancy PI from sponsor-side trials liability and clarified the US requirements.
The result: PI and $10M general liability with declared US exposure placed through a specialist life sciences market at around $1,500 including fees.
User testing, clinician demonstrations and product education all pre-dated revenue. The submission sought products and public liability only, keeping the founder's separately insured clinical profession out of the structure.
The result: $10M products terms with separate recall and R&D sublimits; a competing market offered $5M and $10M options priced for a device still in R&D.
Two specialist markets declined a technically strong genomics R&D risk purely because the application was livestock health. Reframed as laboratory R&D rather than consultancy, with the structure matched to the model.
The result: Terms obtained from a specialist market subject to recourse and excluded-product review.
A newly incorporated consultancy with a signed US customer contract and a $10M PI request. The signed contract, seven years of documented prior work and a dual-market strategy carried the placement.
The result: High-limit combined cover placed after referral; one market assessed the risk as better suited to standalone PI and liability than a packaged life sciences facility.
All cases anonymised and rounded. Historical premiums and outcomes are specific to each client and are not a quote for any other business.
Related life sciences guides
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Questions about Life Sciences Case Studies
Yes. They draw on Tank's placement work, with client identities removed and commercial details rounded before publication.
Because declines reveal appetite boundaries - end use, geography, limits, minimum premiums - that help the next business prepare a better submission.
No. It is contextual evidence only. Premium depends on your present activity, revenue, limits, contracts, countries, claims and market conditions.
Names, contact details, identifiers, exact dates and unnecessarily precise commercial details are removed or generalised before anything is published. The point isn't to promise an outcome. Clients often look through these examples and recognise a placement close to their own - they're here to help you learn how these risks get placed, not to guarantee your terms.
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.
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