As life science consulting firms thrive, NovusLife triples in size

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Andrew Young, CEO and founder of NovusLife.

Don Seiffert

BioFlash Editor- Boston Business Journal

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Since its launch this spring, Waltham life sciences consulting firm NovusLife has tripled in size, exceeding the anticipations of founder and CEO Andrew Young.

In a recent interview, Young said the firm, which started in June with six employees, now has 20 consultants — 16 employees and four subcontractors — on hand to help out biotech, pharmaceutical and medical device companies that need project-based work done without hiring additional permanent employees. Young said that based on his projections, he's expecting to take in about $3 million in revenue next year.

"We thought this year was going to be to establish the company," he said. "We are in full swing."

The company's expansion includes the first overseas partner, with the recent hiring of a new head of European operations in France, Frederic Liegeois. Liegeois has worked with more than a dozen companies in the fields of orthopedics and biologics.

NovusLife, which Young was inspired to start by his father, a nutritional biochemist at MIT, is one of a handful of local consulting firms that have been able to ride the wave of growth in the local biotech industry. Staffing and consulting firm BioPoint in Wakefield was formed in 2011, and said it has grown to $7 million in revenue and 11 employees. Halloran Consulting Group recently outgrew its Waltham space, and moved to a new headquarters in Fort Point in Boston. The company had 42 employees as of July, having hired more than a quarter of them in the previous six months.

Young said that more and more biotechs are relying on outside contractors rather than hiring full-time employees at the outset, meaning companies like his are seeing big business.

"I think outsourcing in general has been happening more and more in the last year and a half," he said. "A lot of people are becoming believers in this model."