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.
National facility for mouse genetics and preclinical disease modelling
The Mary Lyon Centre at MRC Harwell is the UK's national centre for mouse genetics, providing mouse model generation, phenotyping, cryopreservation, and archiving services to academic and industry researchers worldwide. The Centre offers genome engineering using CRISPR and other techniques to create genetically…
Takeda's UK clinical development and drug discovery operations
Takeda UK encompasses the British operations of Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, one of the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies. The London-based Takeda Development Centre Europe leads clinical development, regulatory affairs, and medical affairs across oncology, neuroscience, gastrointestinal disease, rare…
Preclinical mRNA nanoparticle therapeutics for chronic inflammatory disease
EVolution Therapeutics is a preclinical-stage biotechnology company developing mRNA nanoparticle and hydrogel-based therapeutics to resolve chronic inflammation and support tissue repair. Spun out of Aston University, its platform delivers mRNA encoding pro-resolving proteins directly to sites of disease. The lead…
AI-powered microbiome and phage therapy platform for gut disorders
GutSee Health is a biotechnology company developing precision microbiome therapies for gut disorders including irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. Its AI discovery platform integrates multi-omics and microbiome data to identify molecular disease signatures and therapeutic targets. A parallel…
Targeting developmentally-silent oncogenic drivers for cancer therapy
Awen Oncology is a Welsh oncology biotechnology company developing first-in-class therapeutics that target cancer-specific proteins derived from developmental genes that are dormant in healthy adult tissue but aberrantly reactivated in tumour cells. The company's platform integrates high-throughput cell and molecular…
Multivalent linker technologies for antibody-drug conjugate therapeutics
Spirea is a biopharmaceutical company developing antibody-drug conjugate technologies for targeted cancer treatment. Its multivalent linker platform is designed to attach a wider range of drug payloads to antibodies while enabling higher payload loading and controlled delivery. Spirea conducts preclinical research on…
Ex-vivo organ perfusion services for preclinical drug evaluation
Pebble Bio is a contract research organisation providing ex-vivo organ and tissue perfusion services as an alternative to large animal experimentation. Using living organ systems maintained under physiological conditions, the company evaluates the safety, efficacy, and pharmacology of novel therapeutics, biomedical…
Therapeutics to restore egg quality and improve IVF outcomes
U-Ploid Biotechnologies is an early-stage biotechnology company developing first-in-class therapeutics to address age-related decline in egg quality. Its lead programme targets chromosomal instability in human oocytes which is a primary driver of IVF failure, miscarriage, and congenital disorders in women of advanced…
Precision cancer vaccines to prevent metastatic recurrence
Infinitopes is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutic cancer vaccines designed to prevent metastatic recurrence. Its lead candidate ITOP1 is a precision viral vector cancer vaccine targeting tumour antigens in patients with surgically resectable oesophageal adenocarcinoma, to be administered in…
Immunometabolism-targeting small molecules for autoimmune disease
Sitryx Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oral small molecule therapeutics that modulate immune cell metabolism to achieve disease remission in autoimmune and inflammatory conditions. The company's approach targets novel metabolic enzymes within immune cells, with lead programmes in…
Specialist CRO for ion channel screening and cardiac safety assessment
Metrion Biosciences is a contract research organisation specialising in preclinical ion channel biology, cardiac safety screening, and neuroscience drug discovery services. Founded in 2015 as a spin-out from Xention Limited, Metrion provides automated and manual patch clamp electrophysiology, GLP-compliant hERG…
TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor advancing towards Phase 2 psoriasis trials
Sareum is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing small-molecule kinase inhibitors for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Its lead oral TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor, SDC-1801, completed Phase 1 testing in healthy volunteers and is being prepared for a Phase 2 study in psoriasis. Dosing in its Phase 2-enabling toxicology…
Mammalian recombinant protein production and cell line development services
Daresbury Proteins is a contract research organisation specialising in mammalian recombinant protein production and cell line development. Using proprietary expression vectors optimised for CHO-K1 and HEK293 systems, the company produces difficult-to-express proteins as research reagents and candidate targets for…
Infectious disease drug development and partnering organisation
Infex Therapeutics is a clinical-stage drug development company focused on antimicrobial resistance and pandemic-priority infectious diseases, based at Alderley Park. Founded as The AMR Centre in 2016, the company acquires and co-develops novel therapeutics through in-licensing and risk-sharing partnerships with…
Preclinical CRO for receptor pharmacology and occupancy studies
Gifford Bioscience is a contract research organisation providing receptor pharmacology and occupancy services for preclinical and discovery stage drug development. The company conducts radioligand binding assays, functional GPCR assays, receptor occupancy studies, autoradiography, and surface plasmon resonance using…
Blue-mussel-derived bioactive peptide therapy for veterinary research
N2 Pharmaceuticals develops N2-01, an injectable mixture of bioactive peptides and amino acids derived from blue mussels. Its research focuses on endothelial dysfunction and vascular permeability, with potential applications in veterinary medicine and human disease. The company reports historic veterinary use in…
Coronary plaque biomarkers for precision cardiovascular medicine
PlaqueTec develops a catheter-based liquid biopsy system to investigate biological processes driving coronary artery disease. Its device samples blood at sites around coronary plaques, allowing researchers to compare local concentrations of proteins and other molecules. These data feed its BioCarta platform for…
Oral NLRP3 inhibitors for cardiovascular and neurologic inflammation
Rezera, formerly NodThera, is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing small molecule inhibitors of NLRP3, an inflammasome implicated in chronic inflammatory and neurodegenerative disease. Its lead asset, ruvonoflast, is a brain-penetrant oral inhibitor that has completed Phase II trials and is advancing…
AI platform for in silico antibody discovery
Antiverse is a Cardiff-based company using machine learning to identify diverse and rare antibody candidates from next-generation sequencing data of naïve and immune repertoires. Its AI-augmented discovery platform analyses NGS data in silico to shortlist effective and developable antibodies, claiming a tenfold…
Engineered bacteriophages for precision antimicrobial discovery
BioPhoundry is an engineering biology company developing bacteriophage-based technologies for precision antimicrobial research. Its Phax platform combines machine learning, synthetic biology and cell-free production to accelerate phage discovery and engineering. The company aims to generate tailored phages for…