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.
CRISPR-engineered tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapy
Intima Bioscience is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing CRISPR gene-edited tumour-infiltrating lymphocyte therapies for solid tumours. Its platform targets CISH, an intracellular immune checkpoint that suppresses T cell activity against tumours; CRISPR knockout of CISH in patient-derived TILs enhances…
Fragment-based drug discovery with a glioblastoma focus
IOTA Pharmaceuticals is a Cambridge drug discovery company specialising in fragment-based design, molecular screening and computational approaches to early-stage therapeutics. Its research combines transcriptomics, phenotypic assays and natural product screening to investigate candidate treatments. A major focus is…
AI-guided RNA therapies for chronic metabolic diseases
Elarna Bio is a biotechnology company developing long-acting RNA therapeutics for chronic metabolic diseases. It combines AI-driven discovery with RNA engineering to improve the duration of therapeutic activity. The platform focuses on challenges associated with liver-targeted RNA treatments and is intended for…
Bispecific antibody-drug conjugates for cancer-selective precision therapy
BiVictriX Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company developing bispecific antibody-drug conjugates for targeted cancer treatment. Its Bi-Cygni platform recognises combinations of two tumour-associated antigens to improve cancer-cell selectivity and limit effects on healthy tissues. Its lead solid-tumour candidate,…
AAV gene therapy company targeting inherited and common retinal diseases
Beacon Therapeutics is a clinical-stage UK biopharma company developing adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies for retinal diseases causing blindness. Its lead programme, laru-zova (AGTC-501), is in Phase II/III clinical trials for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. The pipeline also includes preclinical programmes…
AI-driven tRNA synthetase platform for novel small molecule therapeutics
Oxford Drug Design is an Oxford biotech developing small molecule therapeutics using an integrated platform combining aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase biology with proprietary generative AI and machine learning. The platform provides structural biology knowledge, crystallographic data, and novel chemotypes targeting tRNA…
Pharma-university venture funding early-stage translational research
Apollo Therapeutics is a biopharma company advancing therapeutic programmes derived from research at partner universities including Cambridge, Imperial College London, UCL, King's College London, and the Institute of Cancer Research. Originally a joint venture between three universities and AstraZeneca, GSK, and…
Broad-spectrum intranasal antivirals targeting respiratory viral infections
Pneumagen is a Scottish clinical-stage biotechnology company developing broad-spectrum intranasal antiviral therapies. Pneumagen's platform generates multivalent carbohydrate binding molecules (mCBMs) that block viral entry by binding to sialic acid residues on host epithelial cells. In 2026, Pneumagen reorganized…
Multispecific immune cell engagers targeting gamma delta T cells
Cytospire Therapeutics is developing multispecific engager antibodies designed to enhance and direct the activity of gamma delta T cells for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. The company emerged from stealth in 2024, backed by Abingworth, 4BIO Capital and LifeArc Ventures. Its platform targets both…
Probiotic microbiome platform for skin health and dermatological conditions
SkinBioTherapeutics is a biotechnology company developing microbiome-based technologies for skin health. Its proprietary platform harnesses lysates derived from probiotic bacteria to improve skin barrier function, reduce infection risk, and support wound healing. Programmes target cosmetic skincare, psoriasis, eczema,…
Targeted small-molecule drugs for brain and metastatic cancers
Sentinel Oncology is a biotechnology company developing targeted small-molecule drugs for difficult-to-treat cancers. Its medicinal chemistry programmes investigate DNA damage responses and cell division. Some candidates are designed to cross the blood-brain barrier, targeting primary brain tumours and cancers that…
Antibodies, proteins and reagents for life science research
Abcam is a global supplier of biological research reagents and tools serving approximately 750,000 researchers across more than 130 countries. The company develops and distributes a broad catalogue of primary and secondary antibodies, immunoassay kits, proteins, peptides and cellular assay tools supporting drug…
Novel mRNA technology platform for safer, faster vaccines
CamMed Therapeutics (Cambridge Medixine Ltd) is a preclinical biotechnology company developing a novel mRNA technology platform for vaccines and therapeutics. Inspired by natural biological phenomena, its engineered RNA molecules are designed to deliver safer, easier and faster medicines to the clinic while reducing…
Long-acting GnRH antagonist for prostate cancer and urinary retention
Antev is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a long-acting gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist that suppresses testosterone production. Its lead peptide therapy is being developed for men with advanced prostate cancer, including those at high cardiovascular risk, and for men experiencing…
Biophysical platform revealing molecular behaviour for discovery
Apoha is a deep tech company developing a biophysical measurement platform based on nonlinear acoustic wave propagation at liquid interfaces. The platform generates multi-dimensional data on molecular behaviour including responses to stress, motion, and mixture conditions, from small sample volumes. Apoha positions…
Open-source AI models for biomolecular structure and drug design
Boltz is a software and AI company building biomolecular foundation models for drug discovery. Its models predict the three-dimensional structures of proteins and other biomolecules, estimate how strongly small molecules bind their targets, and generate candidate molecules and proteins. Boltz makes models available…
Quality-controlled human iPSC lines for disease modelling
EBiSC is a not-for-profit biobank supplying quality-controlled human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) lines to academic and commercial researchers. Its catalogue includes disease-associated, healthy control and gene-edited isogenic cell lines for disease modelling, drug discovery and preclinical research. The…
AI-powered drug discovery and repurposing for rare diseases
Healx is a clinical-stage biotech applying AI to drug discovery and repurposing for rare diseases. Its platform analyses drug and disease data at scale to identify novel treatment relationships, enabling multiple discovery programmes to run in parallel. The lead programme targeting neurofibromatosis type 1 entered…
Infectious disease research platforms and industry-academic partnerships
iiCON (Infection Innovation Consortium) is a Liverpool-led research partnership accelerating the discovery and development of infectious disease interventions. Led by Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, it connects industry, academia and the NHS through specialist platforms covering antimicrobial discovery,…
Preclinical therapeutic company targeting tissue fibrosis in allergic asthma
Fibraxis is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing a therapeutic for allergic asthma that targets tissue fibrosis in the lung. Spun out of Aston University and supported by SPARK The Midlands, the company builds on research into pericytes, the mesenchymal cells implicated in airway scarring and…