Drug discovery companies identify, validate and develop new therapeutic candidates for the prevention and treatment of disease. The sector combines biology, chemistry, data science and clinical expertise to bring new medicines from concept to clinic.
This category includes companies working on:
Browse 495 UK drug discovery companies below.
AI-powered RNAi drug discovery company developing hepatic medicines
Tangram Therapeutics is a biotechnology company combining artificial intelligence and RNA interference to discover and develop novel medicines. Its proprietary chemistry platform silences disease-driving genes in hepatocytes, and its AI platform drives target identification and siRNA design. The pipeline includes…
Dual-pathway AAV gene therapies for retinal degeneration
Ikarovec is a biotechnology company developing dual-pathway adeno-associated virus gene therapies for retinal diseases. Its lead candidate combines complementary mechanisms targeting complement activity, inflammation and retinal cell protection in geographic atrophy. Additional programmes target wet and intermediate…
XF-73 antimicrobial advancing towards Phase 3 infection prevention
AMR Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing the XF-73 antimicrobial platform for preventing hospital-acquired infections. Its lead nasal formulation aims to reduce Staphylococcus aureus carriage before surgery. Following Phase 2b clinical testing, the programme is preparing for Phase 3 development.…
Human in vitro models for disease and drug research
Queen Mary Centre for Predictive in vitro Models is a multidisciplinary research centre developing human-relevant laboratory models for studying disease and evaluating potential treatments. Its researchers combine organ-on-a-chip systems, organoids, three-dimensional cell cultures and bioengineering methods to…
Targeted oncology combination therapies in biomarker-defined cancer populations
Mosaic Therapeutics is a Cambridge biotech developing targeted combination therapies for cancer. Its proprietary platform integrates genome-scale CRISPR screening, high-throughput combination drug testing across over 1,300 patient-derived tumour models, and advanced computational analysis to identify synergistic drug…
Anti-inflammatory drugs for neurodegenerative disease
Sitala Bio is a Cambridge-based biotech developing small molecule drugs that target chronic neuroinflammation in conditions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. The company's approach focuses on blocking microglial dysfunction to restore toxin clearance in the brain. Founded by NLRP3 inflammasome expert Matt…
AI-designed aptamer therapeutics for undruggable targets
PentaBind is a TechBio company using generative AI to design aptamers with drug-like properties for targets that are inaccessible to conventional modalities. Its platform combines proprietary datasets with wet-laboratory validation to deliver multi-attribute aptamer candidates in a fraction of the time and cost of…
Patient-derived cell models and assays for oncology drug discovery
Dominion Biotech is a Cheshire-based biotechnology company developing patient-derived cell (PDC) models and assays to support oncology drug discovery and development. Working in partnership with cancer hospitals and academic collaborators, the company builds a diverse bank of PDC models reflecting the genetic…
Human iPSC models and AI phenomics for drug discovery
Pixl Bio combines human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) models with AI-driven image analysis for drug discovery and safety research. Its portfolio includes liver cells, stellate cells and disease models, alongside CRISPR engineering, high-content Cell Painting and contract studies. These tools help researchers…
Recombinant Fc receptors for antibody research and development
Gamma Proteins is a Durham-based reagent company supplying recombinant Fc receptors for antibody research and biopharmaceutical development. Its catalogue includes Fc gamma receptors and neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn), with human and selected animal proteins offered in unconjugated and biotinylated formats. The proteins…
Benchtop single-molecule fluorescence instruments for life science research
Exciting Instruments develops accessible benchtop single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy instruments and cloud-based analysis software. Its system enables researchers to perform single-molecule FRET and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy without specialist infrastructure, guided alignment, or custom coding. The…
Integrated drug development, formulation and Phase I clinical services
Quotient Sciences is a contract research, development and manufacturing organisation providing integrated drug development services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Its proprietary platform combines drug product formulation, clinical trial manufacturing, and Phase I clinical testing within a single programme,…
Pre-clinical platelet function testing for drug discovery and safety
Platelet Services is a contract research organisation specialising in pre-clinical platelet function testing for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. The company provides standard and customised assays to assess the effects of candidate compounds on platelet activity, supporting both anti-platelet drug programmes…
Clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate specialist targeting solid tumours
Pheon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of antibody-drug conjugates for the treatment of solid tumours. The company combines monoclonal antibodies with proprietary cytotoxic payloads and linker technologies, taking a target-specific approach to optimising each construct for…
High-throughput protein stability screening by differential scanning fluorimetry
Protein Stable is a UK instrumentation company developing high-throughput fluorescence systems for protein stability screening. Its SUPR-DSF and SUPR-CM platforms measure thermal and chemical unfolding in microplates, supporting biologics formulation, protein engineering and drug discovery. The technology uses…
In vivo safety pharmacology and cardiovascular preclinical testing
Vivonics Preclinical is a contract research organisation providing in vivo safety pharmacology studies for biotechnology and pharmaceutical drug development teams. Its services assess how experimental compounds affect vital organ function, particularly cardiovascular physiology, using telemetry, electrocardiography,…
Antigen modulation therapies for cancer and autoimmune disease
Grey Wolf Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing small molecule inhibitors of endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidases (ERAP1 and ERAP2) to modulate antigen presentation on cell surfaces. In oncology, this approach enhances tumour visibility to the immune system; in autoimmunity, it aims to…
Nonclinical safety toxicology and ion channel screening services
ApconiX is a nonclinical safety consultancy and ion channel laboratory supporting drug discovery and development programmes. The company provides project toxicology, DMPK support, target safety assessments, study outsourcing and monitoring, and specialist subject matter expertise across disciplines including safety…
Small molecule regulators of mitochondrial transfer for age related disease
Nascent Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing small molecule therapies that regulate mitochondrial transfer between cells. The company's discovery platform identifies compounds that promote the uptake of healthy mitochondria into damaged cells, or block cancer cells from taking mitochondria from…
Custom radiolabelling and integrated small molecule drug discovery services
Eurofins Selcia is a contract research organisation specialising in custom carbon-14 and stable isotope radiolabelling, GMP radiolabelled API manufacturing, and integrated small molecule drug discovery. Its radiochemistry services support preclinical and clinical ADME studies, human mass balance trials, dermal…