Invesco Fund Managers Ltd's USD51 billion purse had been seen as a blessing from early-stage biotech startups.

Invesco led by star investor Neil Woodford had recently made a GBP25 million investment to acquire 29% of Tissue Regenix Group Plc. Invesco also owned stakes in e-Therapeutics Plc and Retroscreen Virology Group Plc, small publicly-traded companies who required funding for company expansion. Invesco had also committed investments to unlisted, venture-capital-stage companies including Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. and Circassia Holdings Ltd.

Cenkos Securities analyst Navid Malik said, "If it wasn't for him, it would be quite grim. There would be a few CEOs throwing themselves off the roof."

Data compiled by Ernst & Young revealed that funding for UK biotech companies dropped 84% to EUR363 million ot USD493 million in 2012.