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.
Next-generation lateral CAR-T therapies for refractory solid tumours
Leucid Bio Ltd is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation CAR-T cell therapies for hard-to-treat solid tumours. Founded on over two decades of King's College London research, the platform redesigns the CAR signalling architecture to enhance T-cell potency, persistence, and tumour…
Target discovery platform and antibody-based therapies for oncology
Oxford BioTherapeutics is an Oxford-based clinical-stage oncology company discovering and developing first-in-class antibody-based cancer therapies. Its proprietary platform identifies novel membrane protein targets directly from patient tumour samples, enabling the development of ADCs, immuno-oncology antibodies,…
UK affiliate of global family-owned biopharmaceutical company
Boehringer Ingelheim is a global family-owned biopharmaceutical company founded in 1885. Its Bracknell headquarters houses functions spanning research and development, regulatory affairs, pharmacovigilance, medical affairs, and commercial operations across its human pharma and animal health divisions. It operates…
Antibody discovery platform identifying therapeutics from resilient individuals
Alchemab Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, and immunology. Its platform combines deep B cell sequencing and machine learning to identify naturally protective antibodies from individuals resilient to specific diseases.…
Immunomodulatory therapeutics for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases
Kherion Technology is a biotechnology company developing immunomodulatory treatments for chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Its lead preclinical programme investigates a proprietary therapeutic composition intended to reduce chronic inflammation without broadly suppressing immune activity. A granted US…
Engineered patient cells for sustained therapeutic antibody production
Semper-B Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing a cell-engineering platform intended to enable patients’ own cells to produce therapeutic antibodies over prolonged periods. The approach aims to achieve durable, precise modulation of immune activity by using engineered cells as a continuing source of…
Endometrial biology platform for implantation failure and miscarriage
Sita Bio is a London-based biotechnology company engineering functional, vascularised thick living tissue. Combining tissue engineering, vascular biology, perfusion hardware and automated experimentation, it builds living systems that survive, organise and adapt. Its first application is a first-trimester uterine…
Small molecule inhibitors targeting APOBEC enzymes in cancer
Apobec Discovery is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class small molecule inhibitors of APOBEC3A and APOBEC3B, cytidine deaminase enzymes that drive tumour mutagenesis, evolution, and resistance to treatment. By blocking APOBEC activity, the company aims to limit the mutational capacity of…
UK commercial base for a rare metabolic disease biotech
Amicus Therapeutics UK is the British subsidiary of Amicus Therapeutics, a US-listed biotechnology company focused on rare metabolic diseases. The company develops enzyme replacement therapies and gene therapies targeting lysosomal storage disorders, with approved medicines for Pompe disease and Fabry disease. The UK…
Clinical-stage antibody-drug conjugate developer for cancer
Iksuda Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody-drug conjugates for difficult-to-treat cancers. Its platform combines stable bioconjugation chemistry with tumour-selective payload activation to improve therapeutic index. Clinical programmes include IKS014, a HER2-targeting ADC, and…
Novel small-molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases
Nevrargenics is a UK-based biotech company developing novel small-molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases. Spun out of Durham University and built on research collaboration with the University of Aberdeen, the company uses a patented library of dual-activity retinoic acid receptor modulators designed to…
Clinical-stage therapeutics for advanced liver disease
Yaqrit is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing treatments for patients with advanced liver disease, including cirrhosis and acute-on-chronic liver failure. Its pipeline includes an oral ammonia scavenger for hepatic encephalopathy, an extracorporeal liver support device, and a microbiome-based…
Ubiquitin research reagents and enzyme profiling services
Ubiquigent+ is a research reagent and assay service offering operated within the University of Dundee's MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit. It supplies antibodies, enzymes, proteins and DNA reagents for studying the ubiquitin system, alongside biochemical profiling services for deubiquitylases and…
Gene therapy company targeting complement-mediated ocular diseases
Complement Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing gene therapies and protein-based therapeutics for diseases driven by dysregulation of the complement immune pathway. A spin-out from the University of Manchester, the company's lead programme CTx001 is an AAV-based gene therapy for geographic…
Allergen immunotherapies for hay fever and food allergy
Allergy Therapeutics is a commercial biopharmaceutical company developing, manufacturing and selling immunotherapies that address the underlying immune cause of allergic disease. Its marketed products, sold across Europe, include short-course subcutaneous treatments for pollen and other respiratory allergies,…
Enzyme-enabled precision molecular editing for therapeutic discovery
X-Genix is a biotechnology company developing enzyme-enabled methods for selective molecular modification in drug discovery. Its platform integrates engineered biological catalysts, synthetic chemistry and machine learning to modify small molecules and complex biomolecules at defined sites. This provides access to…
Oral iron deficiency therapy for adults across multiple indications
Shield Therapeutics is a commercial-stage specialty pharmaceutical company focused on iron deficiency. Its lead product, Accrufer/Feraccru (ferric maltol), is an oral iron therapy approved for adults with iron deficiency with or without anaemia. The product is commercialised in the US with Viatris and licensed to…
World's largest independent cancer research funder and charity
Cancer Research UK is a registered charity and the world's largest independent funder of cancer research, supporting over 4,000 researchers, doctors and nurses across the UK. The organisation funds basic laboratory research, drug discovery, clinical trials, prevention and early detection science. It operates four core…
Antibody fragment drug conjugate platform for solid tumour oncology
Antikor Biopharma is a pre-clinical stage biotechnology company developing antibody fragment drug conjugates for the treatment of solid tumours. The company's proprietary platform uses smaller antibody fragments rather than whole antibodies to achieve improved tumour penetration and faster systemic clearance compared…
Multimodal small molecule therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease
Elixa MediScience is a UK drug discovery company developing novel small molecule compounds designed to slow the progression and delay the onset of neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis. The company's approach targets multiple pathophysiological mechanisms simultaneously,…