Quick Discovery

Pharma & Biotech Companies

The DDU is unique to the academic environment; a fully funded, well-equipped drug discovery facility delivering late-lead molecules and pre-clinical drug candidates to industry. We employ experienced, highly skilled scientists from the pharmaceutical industry and academia who have a professional, pioneering approach to small molecule drug discovery.

Our integrated structure allows us to synergise academic and industry experience and allocate resources effectively across our priority focus areas:

  • Anti-Infectives Drug Discovery
  • Innovative Targets Portfolio

We work to industry standards and Target Product Profiles developed with you, for you. In a closely integrated partnership with GSK, Tres Cantos, Madrid we have delivered two drug candidates for visceral leishmaniasis. This successful partnership, now focused on Chagas disease, has been running since 2011 and represents a truly integrated collaboration.

Within our Anti-Infectives Drug Discovery portfolio we also work as part of the TB Drug Accelerator (TBDA), Malaria Drug Accelerator (MalDA), the Structure-guided Drug Discovery Coalition (SDDC) and are an Associated Partner in EU Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) consortia to deliver new medicines for TB and COVID.

The Innovative Targets Portfolio covers a range of therapeutic areas, their selection being driven by the quality of the underlying biology, rather than a focus on particular disease areas. Current funding supports early stage hit discovery and validation activities to deliver molecules that demonstrate proof-of-concept in cell-based models. These projects then require industry partnership to develop compounds suitable for testing in animal models and beyond.

Discover how our highly skilled scientists can help your organisation break barriers

Our team of scientists carry expertise from across the biopharmaceutical industry and academia, and will work collaboratively with your organisation to perform small molecule drug discovery research.