Biotech funding freeze after the 2008 financial crisis (2008-2010)
Venture funding for biotech startups dried up during the financial crisis, cutting orders at research toolmakers. Clinical research spending was hit first, then laboratory supplies and reagents.
Toolmakers saw roughly two years of flat or falling revenue before funding recovered.
The recovery followed a predictable sequence: clinical research spending first, then lab supplies, then high-tech reagents.
Casper described the same sequence in 2026: biotech funding takes two to three quarters to translate into revenue, showing up in clinical research before lab supplies.
