Life Science start-ups slipping

American Red Cross Biomedical Services

Baxter

Dendreon

Ethicon

GE Healthcare

Greenway Medical Technologies

Immucor

McKesson Technology Solutions

Merial

Philips Healthcare

UCB Inc.

Life sciences – a sector on which Georgia and Atlanta have pinned much of its hope for technology-fueled growth – is losing steam with creation of fewer and fewer new companies being launched, according to a new study.

Even more ominous, a slowdown in life sciences will do damage to the rest of the economy, warned the report issued Wednesday morning by the Brookings Institution.

“Overall, the life sciences sector plays an outsized role in new job creation and makes important contributions to entrepreneurship,” wrote the authors, Ian Hathaway and Robert E. Litan. ”However, these trends have waned over time.”

The report was not completely downbeat: The drugs and pharmaceuticals segment continues to surge, producing a large number of start-ups, the report said.

The life science sector – especially its start-ups – has been a key to both healthcare innovation and job creation, Litan and Hathaway wrote.

Much of the overall economy’s job growth comes from new, growing companies and life sciences has out-performed the overall economy, they wrote: : “Start-ups that have been in existence less than six years are particularly high-growth, creating a lot of jobs.”

Overall entrepreneurship is down 15 percent since 1990. It is worse in life sciences, where the number of start-ups fell 23 percent in that same period, the authors say

The state has 400 life sciences companies employing more than 20,000 people, according to the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Among the life science companies with offices or production facilities in Georgia are Allscripts, American Red Cross Biomedical Services, Baxter, GE Healthcare, Immucor and McKesson Technology Solutions, according to the development.