Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) Limited’s Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025 is now published.
The Financial Year 2024/25 saw some recovery in the life sciences sector following a reduction in inflation and a limited return in fundraising. However, as MDC’s 2024 State of the Discovery Nation report showed, the funding has been in larger amounts to fewer companies in specific locations, leaving the bulk of earlier-stage companies across the UK in greater need of money and active enablement to translate their ideas into investible biotechs and drug candidates for the benefit of UK plc.
MDC delivers a national life sciences service to the whole community. Its performance this year reflects its continuing impact and strategic role in supporting UK biotech: reshaping drug discovery for patient benefit and securing fresh investment in the nation’s most promising young companies.
In this financial year, MDC has worked on 68 partnered R&D projects and supported 64 partners across the UK, driving them towards investment and commercial success. In the same period, partners who have previously worked with MDC have subsequently raised private and public investment of £262m, contributing to a total impact of £1.34bn raised since MDC’s inception.
The report demonstrates that MDC has continued to support economic growth by:
- Deploying cutting-edge science-based technologies that enable partners to progress their assets to the clinic and to develop new technologies to market in the UK
- Investing in its advanced lab capabilities in Translational Imaging, Cellular Sciences and Biomarkers, providing advanced translational platforms to test drug molecules or novel technologies in vitro, in vivo, ex vivo and in the clinic
- Addressing national and global challenges in medicine discovery through strategic R&D programmes to meet unmet patient needs, with highlights this year including Science and Health Ministers unveiling the first state-of-the-art total-body PET scanner deployed by the National PET Imaging Platform, and supporting the launch of the Dame Barbara Windsor Dementia Goals Programme
- Driving the national conversation to create an enabling environment for innovators, for example, by working with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to chair an advisory group for radiopharmaceuticals to facilitate the transition of novel approaches into the clinical setting
- Serving the community, publishing valuable data and insight through scientific papers in globally recognised journals, UK-wide primary sector research reports, start-up biotech webinar series and blogs.
Professor Chris Molloy, Chief Executive Officer of Medicines Discovery Catapult, said:
“MDC deploys its expertise and cutting-edge technologies to support the UK life sciences community. We continue to serve the whole of the UK and look to our strategic international partners who will help us support the development of future medicines and their makers. By transforming drug discovery in partnership, MDC increases the impact of the UK life sciences sector, creates a healthier society and economy, and improves patients’ lives.”
View MDC’s annual report for the year ended 31 March 2025 here >
