Small molecule drug companies develop low-molecular-weight medicines designed to interact with specific biological targets. These compounds can often enter cells and may be formulated as oral or other conventional dosage forms across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
This category includes companies working on:
Browse 221 UK small molecule drug companies below.
Autophagy-enhancing small molecule drugs for neurodegeneration and rare disease
Samsara Therapeutics is a drug discovery company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics that restore autophagy, the cellular process of degrading and recycling damaged proteins, which declines with age and is dysfunctional in multiple diseases. Its platform identifies and chemically optimises…
Next-generation targeted protein degradation therapeutics
Amphista Therapeutics is a Cambridge-based biopharmaceutical company developing next-generation targeted protein degradation medicines. Its proprietary platform generates bifunctional small molecule degraders that harness a broader range of the cell's protein-degrading machinery than existing approaches, enabling…
Cyclic peptide screening platform for first-in-class cancer drugs
Curve Therapeutics is a drug discovery company using its proprietary platform to identify first-in-class small molecule therapeutics against targets that have been difficult to address using conventional methods. The platform screens gene-encoded cyclic peptide libraries inside mammalian cells to identify functionally…
Phosphoproteomics platform for kinase activity profiling and precision oncology
Kinomica is a UK precision medicine company developing phosphoproteomics technology for drug discovery and companion diagnostics. Its platform combines LC-MS/MS mass spectrometry with proprietary bioinformatics to measure kinase activity directly from patient samples, enabling drug target identification, monitoring of…
Clinical trial supply, packaging and distribution services
Sharp Services is a contract development and manufacturing organisation providing clinical supply chain services for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Operating from an MHRA-licensed facility in South Wales, the company manages manufacturing, packaging, labelling, storage, and global distribution of…
Preclinical DMPK, bioanalysis and toxicology CRO
Pharmidex is a UK contract research organisation providing preclinical drug discovery and development services across DMPK, bioanalysis, toxicology, histology and in vitro ADME. Operating under GLP and GCP accreditation from its Hatfield facility, the company supports programmes in oncology, CNS, respiratory and…
Preclinical small-molecule therapeutics targeting a novel pathway in chronic pain
Sevenless Therapeutics is a preclinical biotechnology company developing small-molecule medicines for people with chronic pain that responds poorly to existing treatments. The company has identified a new target in pain signalling using computational and mathematical modelling approaches and is designing small…
AI platform integrating biology, chemistry and automation for drug discovery
Recursion is a clinical-stage biotechnology company using AI and robotic wet-lab automation to industrialise small molecule drug discovery. Its platform integrates phenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics and patient data to identify and optimise drug candidates at scale. Following its acquisition of Oxford-based…
Native mass spectrometry platform for small molecule drug discovery
OMass Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing small molecule therapeutics against membrane proteins, GPCRs, and intracellular complexes that have historically been difficult to drug. Its proprietary platform combines native mass spectrometry, novel biochemistry, and custom chemistry to interrogate protein…
Clinical-stage biopharma developing treatments for cancer and rare diseases
Biodexa Pharmaceuticals is a Cardiff-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a pipeline of proprietary drug formulations for diseases with high unmet need. Its lead programme, eRapa, an encapsulated oral formulation of rapamycin, is in a Phase 3 registrational trial for familial adenomatous polyposis,…
Contract chemistry and manufacturing solutions for pharmaceutical and biotech research
Chemveda Life Sciences is a contract research and development organisation providing chemistry solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agrochemical industries. The company offers discovery and medicinal chemistry, custom synthesis, route scouting and process research and development, alongside large scale,…
Approved presbyopia eye drops and investigational retinal therapies
Tenpoint Therapeutics is an ophthalmic biopharmaceutical company developing medicines and regenerative cell therapies for age-related vision disorders. Its dual-agent carbachol/brimonidine eye drops received US FDA approval for presbyopia in January 2026 and became commercially available in March. A UK regulatory…
Synthetic glycan-targeted small molecules for next-generation immunotherapy
Anomer Bio is a biotechnology company developing synthetic monosaccharides and small molecule drugs that target glycans, the sugars coating cell surfaces that influence immune responses and disease. Its platform combines multi-omics data and machine learning to model how cells process sugars, enabling the design of…
Cocrystal drug repurposing for oncology supportive care and fibrosis
Nuformix is a pharmaceutical development company using proprietary cocrystal technology to repurpose existing drugs for unmet medical needs in fibrosis and oncology. By reengineering a drug's crystal form, the company improves properties such as dissolution and absorption, creating differentiated, patentable products…
Small molecule therapeutics targeting PDE4 enzymes in kidney disease
Mironid is a company developing first-in-class small molecule therapeutics for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, one of the most common hereditary kidney disorders. Its lead programme targets long-form PDE4 enzymes to modulate cyclic AMP signalling, the central driver of cyst growth across all disease…
Targeted oral drug delivery platform for cancer, CNS and respiratory disease
TRX Biosciences is a biotechnology company developing a targeted oral drug delivery platform, enabling therapies to reach specific organs, cells and tissues for cancer, central nervous system, respiratory and immune system diseases. The company's technology is licensed to partner companies for use in their own drug…
RNA-targeted drug discovery platform using machine learning
RevoNA Bio is a biotechnology company developing a high-throughput RNA biological platform for RNA-targeted drug discovery. The platform generates comprehensive RNA structural and functional datasets that feed a machine learning predictive engine, supporting hit identification, structure-activity relationship…
Bioanalytical CRO for drug quantification across development stages
Alderley Analytical is a contract research organisation providing bioanalytical testing services across the drug development continuum, from discovery through preclinical safety studies to clinical trials. The company specialises in mass spectrometry and ligand binding assays for the quantification of small molecules,…
Targeted therapies against extrachromosomal DNA in cancer
Econic Biosciences is a drug discovery biotech developing therapies that target extrachromosomal DNA, a circular form of DNA found outside normal chromosomes that drives oncogene amplification, tumour evolution, and treatment resistance across multiple cancer types. The company uses AI to identify and characterise…
Global pharma company in oncology, immunology, and neuroscience
Johnson & Johnson is a multinational pharmaceutical company with UK operations spanning commercial, medical affairs, and innovation activities. Its Innovative Medicine division covers oncology, immunology, neuroscience, and infectious disease. The company operates an EMEA Innovation Centre in London focused on…