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.
Synthetic psilocybin therapy for treatment-resistant depression and PTSD
Compass Pathways is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing synthetic psilocybin-based treatments for mental health conditions. Its lead candidate, COMP360, is a proprietary synthesised psilocybin formulation administered alongside structured psychological support. COMP360 holds FDA Breakthrough Therapy…
Recombinant antibody sequencing, engineering and manufacturing services
Absolute Antibody specialises in recombinant antibody technology, offering sequencing, engineering and production services alongside a catalogue of recombinant antibodies and Fc fusion proteins in a range of formats. The company's ISO 9001:2015-certified manufacturing facility serves pharmaceutical, biotechnology,…
Tension-preserved human skin models for dermatology and drug testing
Ten Bio is a contract research organisation providing physiologically tensioned human skin models for pharmaceutical, dermatology and cosmetic research. Its patented TenSkin platform maintains full-thickness, ethically sourced surgical skin with its barrier, appendages and minor cell populations, preserving functional…
Integrated drug discovery CRO specialising in small molecule programmes
Domainex is a contract research organisation providing integrated drug discovery services to pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology firms, patient foundations and academic institutions. The company offers medicinal and computational chemistry, protein expression, assay development and structural biology, supporting…
Automated liquid handling and sample management instruments
SPT Labtech is a designer and manufacturer of laboratory automation instruments and consumables for liquid handling, sample preparation, and sample management. Its product portfolio includes nanolitre liquid handling systems for drug discovery and genomics workflows, cryo-electron microscopy sample preparation…
Virus-like particle vaccine platform for infectious disease and diagnostics
iQur is a London-based biotechnology company developing vaccines using its proprietary tandem core virus-like particle platform. The technology uses the hepatitis B virus core protein to display multiple antigens simultaneously, stimulating strong immune responses without the risks of live or attenuated viruses.…
AI and photonics platform for personalised drug development
iLoF is a digital health company developing an AI-powered platform that uses proprietary photonics technology to generate optical fingerprints from blood samples, building a cloud-based library of biological profiles and biomarkers. The platform enables non-invasive patient stratification and personalised drug…
Scientific laboratory informatics and chemical data management software
IDBS is a scientific informatics software company supporting laboratory workflows, experimental data capture and research data management. Its E-WorkBook Chemistry platform provides chemical structure and reaction representation, stoichiometric calculations, chemical searching and compound registration. Its wider…
Oligonucleotide therapeutics designed to upregulate protein expression
Orfonyx Bio is a biotechnology company developing genetic medicines that increase, rather than silence, the expression of therapeutic target proteins. Its platform generates antisense oligonucleotide modulators that act on regulatory elements within the untranslated regions of genes, inhibiting sequence motifs that…
Novel small-molecule anti-fibrinolytic for acute traumatic and surgical bleeding
ClotProtect Therapeutics is a University of Leeds spin-out developing a first-in-class small molecule anti-fibrinolytic to address acute bleeding following trauma and surgery. The company's approach directly inhibits the enzyme responsible for blood clot breakdown, aiming to offer greater efficacy than current…
Oncolytic adenovirus therapeutics for solid tumour cancer treatment
PsiVac is a UK-based biotechnology company developing oncolytic virus therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. Its patented technology uses genetically modified adenoviruses engineered to selectively replicate within and destroy tumour cells while leaving healthy cells intact, while also stimulating the body's immune…
Specialist preclinical CRO for ophthalmic retinal disease drug development
MediNect Ophtho is a contract research organisation providing specialist preclinical services for ophthalmic drug development, with an exclusive focus on retinal disease. Operating from Belfast, the company offers in vivo and ex vivo retinal disease models, proof-of-concept studies, DMPK and ADME studies, and…
Global biopharma with major UK R&D and regulatory operations
Pfizer Limited is the principal UK subsidiary of Pfizer Inc., one of the world's largest biopharmaceutical companies. Its Sandwich, Kent site houses pharmaceutical sciences, global clinical supplies, quality assurance, and worldwide safety and regulatory operations serving over 175 markets. A Devices Centre of…
Automated chiral chemistry platform for small molecule drug discovery
LCC Technologies is a drug discovery company providing biopharma partners with access to its platform, which combines a proprietary billion-scale virtual chiral library with AI-driven design and automated high-throughput synthesis. The platform delivers stereodefined, sp3-rich building blocks and drug-like compounds…
Scientific informatics and cheminformatics software for R&D
Dotmatics is a scientific informatics software company connecting chemical, biological and experimental data across research and development. Its Vortex platform supports chemical data visualisation, structure-aware analysis and structure–activity relationship exploration. Its wider portfolio includes electronic…
Structural chemistry database and software for drug discovery
The Cambridge Crystallographic Data Centre (CCDC) is a non-profit organisation that curates and distributes the Cambridge Structural Database (CSD), the world's repository of experimentally determined small-molecule organic and metal-organic crystal structures, containing over one million entries. Alongside the…
Small molecule MMR inhibitors to enhance tumour immunogenicity
NeoPhore is a UK immuno-oncology company developing first-in-class small molecule inhibitors of the DNA mismatch repair pathway. By transiently blocking MMR, the company's compounds render tumours MMR-deficient and immunogenic, generating neoantigens that stimulate immune responses against cancer. The approach aims to…
European specialty pharma focused on gastroenterology and hepatology
Norgine is a European specialty pharmaceutical company developing, manufacturing, and commercialising medicines across gastroenterology, hepatology, and cancer supportive care. Founded in 1906 and privately owned, the company markets a portfolio of specialty pharmaceutical products and medical devices across Europe,…
AI genomics for drug target discovery
OutSee is a genomics and drug discovery company using proprietary AI technology to identify and validate novel therapeutic targets. Its core platform applies predictive algorithms to large-scale genomic datasets to uncover disease-modulating biological mechanisms, complementing traditional analysis methods. OutSee…
Inhaled therapies for COPD and chronic respiratory diseases
Verona Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercialising inhaled therapies for chronic respiratory diseases. Its lead product, ensifentrine, is a first-in-class dual inhibitor of PDE3 and PDE4 that combines bronchodilator and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory activity in a single inhaled compound.…