Markel (UK), the regional arm of Markel International, today announced the launch of a new and unique specialty liability product aimed at protecting the medical and surgical, pharmaceutical and drug, supplement and cosmetic and scientific and technical equipment manufacturing, distribution and design industries.

These professions are under ever increasing pressure to push the boundaries of medical science with the resulting consequence being that occasional blunders are inevitable.  Recent news coverage only serves to highlight the risks the industry faces.

From the medical and pharmaceutical industries to cosmetics and scientific & technical equipment companies, Markel's Specialty Liability Insurance product provides tailor-made insurance protection.  The policy is aimed at those companies with turnovers of less than £20 million and has four optional sections which can accommodate public and products liability, professional indemnity, clinical trials and employers' liability exposures.  With the exception of employers' liability, any section of cover can be written on a 'stand-alone' basis.

Steve Carroll, Managing Director, Markel (UK) said: "We feel there is a need in the regional markets to cater for these types of risk locally.  Our focus is on the 'smaller' companies rather than the multi-national conglomerates and we are happy to consider new 'start-up's' and 'incubator' companies.  We have a flexible approach and can accommodate both manufacturing and distribution risks together with professional consultants who are involved with product design or clinical trials.  These are all types of business that don't fit the traditional 'SME' underwriting box.

Our Markel US sister-company Shand Morahan have written this type of business for a number of years and we have called upon their experience in helping us design our new offering.  We are confident that our faculties will be of interest to a number of regional brokers."

For further details about our Specialty Liability product please click here.