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.
Clinical-stage medicines for alcohol use disorder and PTSD
Solvonis Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing treatments for addiction and mental health disorders. Its lead programme is in Phase III for severe alcohol use disorder, with additional programmes addressing moderate to severe alcohol use disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and…
Global population genomics platform for drug target discovery and clinical trials
Omnigen Biodata is a biotechnology company operating the Discover Me platform, a global population health and genomics research programme integrating health and genetic data from participants across multiple countries. The platform generates large-scale biodata resources used by pharmaceutical partners to identify…
Biparatopic PD-1/VEGFR2 antibody for solid tumour oncology
Ottimo Pharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing biparatopic antibody therapeutics for solid tumour cancers. Its lead programme, Jankistomig, is a first-in-class single-agent IgG antibody that simultaneously targets PD-1 for immune checkpoint inhibition and VEGFR2 to suppress tumour angiogenesis. The…
Therapeutic antibodies targeting the angiotensin AT1R pathway in cancer
aTen Therapeutics is a Scottish pre-clinical biotechnology company developing therapeutic monoclonal antibodies against the angiotensin-II type I receptor (AT1R), which is overexpressed across a range of cancers. Its lead candidate, Tensinumab (ATN-E11), is a human monoclonal antibody generated via phage display that…
Non-invasive small molecule eye drops for retinal vascular disease
Foventa is a biopharmaceutical company developing non-invasive, small molecule therapeutics for retinal vascular diseases that can cause vision loss. Its lead candidate targets VEGF splicing, a mechanism underlying abnormal blood vessel growth in conditions including diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema.…
Epigenetic reprogramming and senolytic therapeutics for cancer and ageing
199 Biotechnologies is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing epigenetic reprogramming and senolytic therapies targeting cancer and age-related disease. Its lead programme applies partial cellular reprogramming to modify the behaviour of glioblastoma cells, reducing malignancy and reactivating natural…
Rare disease partnering platform connecting patient groups with drug developers
Aspire Biosciences is a Cambridge-based company accelerating treatment development for rare and unaddressed diseases through its Systematic Serendipity methodology. The company facilitates structured partnerships between rare disease patient organisations and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies through…
Ultra-high-throughput biologics discovery platform powered by generative AI
Sortera Bio is a biotechnology company developing an AI-powered platform for the discovery and engineering of biological therapeutics. The Deep Screening platform generates sequence and functional data across hundreds of millions of biologics in a single experiment, producing large-scale training datasets for…
Immunotherapies targeting blood cancer precursor conditions before onset
Athernal Bio is a Cambridge-based biotechnology company developing targeted immunotherapies for high-risk clonal haematopoiesis, a widespread blood stem cell mutation condition that significantly increases the risk of acute myeloid leukaemia and other haematological cancers. The company's pipeline comprises three…
AI and multi-omics platform for cardiovascular drug target discovery
CardiaTec Biosciences is a Cambridge-based biotech applying artificial intelligence to large-scale multi-omic data to identify novel drug targets for cardiovascular diseases. Its platform integrates data across genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic layers to map disease mechanisms and uncover…
Preclinical orexin-1 addiction therapies and CNS drug discovery
TheraCryf is an AIM-listed biotechnology company developing small-molecule therapies for addiction and other neuropsychiatric conditions. Its lead orexin-1 receptor antagonist programme is completing preclinical toxicology and regulatory preparations for a first-in-human Phase 1 trial in Australia. An Australian CRO…
Specialty pharma delivering niche medicines and novel drug delivery technology
Therakind is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing niche medicines for difficult-to-treat patient populations, including children and the elderly. The company has obtained regulatory approvals for three products across the FDA, EMA and MHRA, and has developed a proprietary intranasal dry powder…
GRID-based software for drug design and metabolism prediction
Molecular Discovery is a computational chemistry software company supporting molecular design, virtual screening and compound optimisation. Its GRID molecular interaction field technology underpins FLAP for virtual screening, VolSurf+ for property modelling and MetaSite for metabolism prediction. It also provides…
Preclinical cardioprotective proteins for heart attack treatment
Forcefield Therapeutics is a preclinical biotechnology company developing cardioprotective protein therapies for acute myocardial infarction. Its programme uses naturally occurring proteins identified through the FunSel discovery platform to protect cardiomyocytes after a heart attack, reduce tissue damage and…
Academic drug discovery accelerator developing small molecule therapeutics
Slingshot Therapeutics is a drug discovery accelerator that identifies early-stage scientific programmes from academic institutions and advances them towards clinical development. The company provides centralised expertise, operational infrastructure, and funding to progress small molecule candidates through…
Medical research charity translating science into treatments and diagnostics
LifeArc is a self-funded UK medical research charity focused on translating early-stage science into treatments and diagnostics for patients with rare diseases and global health challenges. Formerly MRC Technology, the organisation operates its own drug discovery and diagnostics development laboratories in Stevenage…
Light-activated small molecule therapies for oral cancer and wound care
LightOx is a biotechnology company developing light-activated small molecule therapeutics for cancer and infection. Its lead candidate LXD191 is a topically applied photosensitising compound targeting early-stage oral cancer and pre-cancerous lesions, activated by a specific wavelength of light to generate reactive…
Cannabinoid medicines, neuroscience and oncology drug development
Jazz Pharmaceuticals is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on medicines for neuroscience and oncology. Its UK operations, centred at Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne, form the heart of its global cannabinoid manufacturing and research activities, inherited through its 2021 acquisition of GW Pharmaceuticals…
TCR therapeutic discovery platform targeting solid tumours
T-Cypher Bio is a pre-clinical biotechnology company developing T-cell receptor therapeutics using its proprietary platform, which integrates immunopeptidomics, bead-display microfluidics, and immune synapse mapping to identify novel intracellular targets and potent TCRs directly from patient tissue. The approach…
Pharmaceutical company in cardiometabolic, oncology, and immunology
Eli Lilly and Company is a multinational pharmaceutical company with UK operations headquartered in Basingstoke and an R&D site in Bracknell. Founded in 1876, Lilly's UK affiliate has operated since 1934 and employs approximately 700 people across regulatory, medical affairs, and research functions. The company…