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.
Circadian hormone therapeutics for rare endocrine conditions
Neurocrine UK is the European operations of Neurocrine Biosciences, a Cardiff-headquartered specialty pharmaceutical company developing and commercialising hormone therapeutics for rare and chronic endocrine conditions. The company's scientific approach centres on circadian-based formulation technology, designed to…
Combinatorial stem cell screening platform for therapy development
Plasticell is a biotechnology company developing cell and gene therapies and enabling drug discovery through its proprietary platform. The technology uses bead-based combinatorial screening to test thousands of cell culture variable combinations in parallel, identifying optimised protocols for stem cell expansion,…
AAV gene therapies for rare and neurological diseases
Spur Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing adeno-associated virus-based gene therapies for serious chronic diseases. Its lead programme is a Phase I/II gene therapy for Gaucher disease type 1, a rare lysosomal storage disorder. Further pipeline candidates target GBA1 Parkinson's disease and…
Galectin-3 targeted small molecule therapeutics for cancer and fibrosis
Galytx is a University of Liverpool spin-out developing small molecule therapeutic drugs that target galectin-3, a protein closely associated with cancer, fibrosis and inflammatory disease. The company's portfolio includes a repurposed clinical-stage asset with an established safety record, alongside pre-clinical…
Precision oncology biotech targeting synthetic lethality in cancer
Tessellate Bio is a precision oncology company developing small molecule drugs that exploit synthetic lethality, the principle that certain genetic vulnerabilities in cancer cells can be targeted to selectively kill tumour cells. The company's lead programme targets the FANCM complex in cancers relying on Alternative…
Version-controlled graph database for biomedical knowledge modelling
TuringDB is a scientific software company developing a version-controlled graph database for complex biomedical and other connected datasets. Originating from Turing Biosystems, its platform supports multi-hop analysis of genes, proteins, disease pathways, compounds and clinical cohorts, with reproducible graph…
Bispecific TCR therapies targeting HLA-Class II cancer antigens
Yellowstone Biosciences is a pre-clinical biotechnology company developing bispecific T-cell receptor therapies for oncology. The company targets a novel class of HLA Class II antigens expressed across multiple cancers, with an initial programme focused on acute myeloid leukaemia. Its approach is designed to…
Integrated drug discovery CRO from target to clinical candidate
Sygnature Discovery is a UK-headquartered integrated drug discovery contract research organisation. Operating from sites in Nottingham, Alderley Park, and Glasgow, the company provides end-to-end drug discovery services spanning target identification, medicinal chemistry, in vitro bioscience, structural biology,…
IgE and IgA antibody therapeutics for cancer treatment
Epsilogen is a clinical-stage biotech pioneering the development of non-IgG immunoglobulin antibody therapeutics for cancer. The company's platform spans IgE, IgA, and IgG isotypes, enabling selection of the most appropriate antibody format for a given tumour type. Its lead candidate MOv18 IgE, the first IgE antibody…
National innovation centre accelerating drug discovery
Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) is an independent, not-for-profit national innovation centre that supports UK medicines discovery organisations across the full drug discovery pipeline. MDC provides access to specialist laboratory technologies, computational and AI-driven tools, translational R&D expertise, and…
Systems biology platform for brain disease drug discovery and repurposing
BRAINCURES is a computational biotechnology company applying a systems biology approach to drug discovery for brain diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, depression, epilepsy, pain and schizophrenia. Its platform maps molecular relationships between compounds, genes and diseases, drawing on its own model of the…
AI drug discovery platform targeting neurological diseases
CoSyne Therapeutics is a drug discovery company applying AI and computational methods to identify and develop therapeutics for neurological diseases. The company describes its approach as polymathic AI, integrating models across biology, chemistry, and genomics to generate and prioritise drug targets. CoSyne operates…
Global drug discovery and development partnership company
Evotec is a global drug discovery and development company with major UK operations at Milton Park, Abingdon, and Alderley Park, Cheshire. Its Abingdon campus houses over 800 staff spanning target validation, medicinal chemistry, structural biology, in silico design, process development, and biologics manufacturing…
Human ovarian cell models and multi-omics drug discovery
OvartiX is a Cambridge biotechnology company developing drug-discovery tools and therapeutic programmes for ovarian and reproductive health. Its platform combines human multi-omics datasets, machine learning and engineered two- and three-dimensional ovarian cell models to identify and validate disease targets. Founded…
In silico software and AI for small molecule drug discovery
Optibrium is a software company providing integrated computational platforms for small molecule design, optimisation and data analysis across preclinical drug discovery. Its tools support compound property prediction, multi-parameter optimisation, AI-driven data analysis, de novo design, and structure-based modelling,…
Controlled-release orthobiologics for spinal fusion and bone repair
Locate Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a portfolio of orthobiologic products for musculoskeletal surgery. Its proprietary Programmed Drug Release platform encapsulates recombinant proteins within biodegradable polymer scaffolds to enable controlled, extended-release delivery. Lead product…
Bispecific antibody platform for cancer immunotherapies
F-star Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing tetravalent bispecific antibodies for cancer and other serious diseases. Its proprietary platform creates antibodies with four binding sites that simultaneously target two different antigens, enabling focused immune activation in the tumour…
Cheminformatics software for chemical search and drug discovery
NextMove Software is a scientific software company developing cheminformatics tools for pharmaceutical, chemical and biotechnology research. Its applications search molecular structures, extract chemical names and reactions from patents, and analyse electronic laboratory notebook records. The company also supplies…
Cell-penetrating peptide reagents for intracellular research applications
Cupid Peptides is a Cardiff-based manufacturer of cell-penetrating peptide products for biomedical research. Its proprietary Cupid sequence, derived from the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, enables large recombinant protein cargoes to traverse cell membranes and access intracellular targets. Products offer the…
AI and quantum-chemical platform for small-molecule drug design
Tres Alchemix is the UK subsidiary of a Japanese biotechnology company developing an AI-driven drug-design platform for small-molecule therapeutics. The platform integrates quantum-level chemical calculations with AI models trained on biochemical and pharmacological datasets to predict the efficacy and safety of novel…