The Drug Discovery Unit was established in 2006 to translate world-class biology research in to new de-risked targets and candidate drugs.

The initial focus was on Diseases of the Developing World, in which the University has an outstanding international reputation.

Our Innovative Targets Portfolio (ITP) can accept high quality, commercially viable projects in any therapeutic area as long as the approach is novel, the project addresses unmet medical need and the pathway to the clinic is clear. 

We are also developing an Antibacterial Drug Discovery Accelerator working in collaboration with senior investiagtors across the UK and beyond to create a step-change in the discovery of new antimicrobial drugs.

We seek to identify novel therapeutic targets and mechanisms of disease and aim to deliver pharmacological lead compounds with supporting data in an animal and/or tissue model of disease.

Our strategy taps into a wealth of world-class academic research that is of tremendous industry interest in the current market but has, until recently, remained untranslated.

We are housed within purpose built facilities at the University of Dundee School of Life Sciences.