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Venture Investment in Drug Discovery in Q2 2026
Reviewing PitchBook data for venture capital deals in drug discovery in this past quarter showed a marked global increase from £4.92Bn to £7.38Bn. UK totals showed a huge rise to £1.97Bn across 24 deals, but this was very heavily skewed by the £1.55Bn Isomorphic Labs raise. Excluding that exceptional deal, however, investment into drug discovery did rise by over 40% quarter on quarter. Notable ex-Isomorphic deals across April – June 2026 were RQBio (£88M), Loqus23 (£35M) CellCentric (£163M) and Storm Therapeutics (£42M). It is noticeable that the top five deals were shared by Cambridge and London companies.
Getting with the Beat
Securing the investment or deals that are available
is intensely competitive, as we all know. Investors and Pharma set a very high threshold to meet when seeking new opportunities. That is coupled with their now global innovations seeking.
The past quarter has seen insights and commercial intelligence shared in a number of activities. The first BioBeat conference under the One Nucleus umbrella saw panels share their insights on navigating the biotech playbook. The Boston Bootcamp took this insight-seeking to the world’s leading life science ecosystem, and more focussed sessions on capital efficiency, Ones-to-Watch and working with CROs were added to the mix. Couple that with taking advantage of One-ON-One sessions and the Going for Gold programme and members can truly align with an informed strategy. Summary articles reporting these sessions can be found below. Next on the horizon is ON Helix.
Breaking News – Kadans Science partner Becomes Latest Corporate Sponsor of One Nucleus
A Time to Celebrate and Plan Ahead
For over 25 years Genesis has become that point towards the end of the year when our community gathers, takes stock of current trends and makes plans for the year or more ahead. Recent years have seen the One Nucleus Annual Awards in spring emerge as a point in the calendar to celebrate together as achievements are made.
Mindful of the pressure on diaries, budgets and resources whilst wanting to deliver the maximum support with minimal overhead, One Nucleus will, this 10 December, bring the Annual Awards into Genesis. The shortlisted finalists will form the Company Showcase session pitchers; the keynote programme will finish with the Awards Ceremony, and the evening will be time to celebrate with your peers at the Gala Reception. One day, one ticket, one great opportunity to hear and celebrate success whilst debating how it can continue. Check out Genesis and Awards and get those nominations in and places booked, since who wouldn’t want to party near Oxford Street just before the festive holidays?
You Don’t Want to Miss a Thing
Remain informed of all One Nucleus updates, disseminate your company’s news, or track the announcements from other members, and make full use of our website, LinkedIn, or X pages. The news stream contains numerous updates from our community. Enjoy the read!
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Collaborating and Competing in the Brave New Biotech World
There have always been many pressures on the biotech industry innovation process. Limitations of existing technologies, sufficient understanding of biology, investment gaps, lack of available lab space to scale, lack of available talent to scale, changing regulations and more. Read an overview from Tony Jones, CEO, One Nucleus.
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BioBeat26: The Next Chapter of a Thriving Community
For One Nucleus, it was a real privilege to bring together the longstanding BioBeat community alongside our own network of innovators, investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. What followed was a day of curiosity, openness, and a shared commitment to advancing life sciences through collaboration. Read about the event from Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus.
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Boston Bootcamp 2026 Key Takeaways: Continue the Conversation at ON Helix
The One Nucleus Boston Bootcamp 2026 once again brought together an ambitious cohort of UK life science innovators to immerse themselves in one of the world’s most dynamic biotech ecosystems. Read a review of this initiative from Alicia Gailliez, Business Development Manager, One Nucleus.
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Aligning Around Biotech Identities for Competitiveness, Economic Development and Success in Translating Bio-Innovation to Patient Benefit
Geopolitics and the deployment of long-term strategic plans developed by regional and national governments to harness the growing knowledge economy have thrown down the gauntlet to the traditional clusters. Read a deep dive by Tony Jones, CEO, One Nucleus.
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Why Community is Our Greatest Asset
Advancing innovative medicines to patients requires a community that brings together researchers sharing their knowledge, start-ups meeting potential partners, investors discovering innovative technologies, and voices that can bring real-world patient perspectives into the conversation. Read why ON Helix is the ideal forum for this, by Alicia Gailliez from One Nucleus.
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The Power of Bringing People Together: Reflections from Our Capital Efficiency Roundtable
Capital efficiency is one of those topics that seems to come up everywhere at the moment. It’s discussed on panels, debated in investor meetings and frequently raised in networking conversations. Philippa Clark, Director of Business Development, One Nucleus, explores what it really means in practice.
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New One Nucleus Seminars to Keep You Ahead of Industry Trends
With increasing demand, a number of topics are planned for the coming months, aimed at providing practical insights and to support professional development across the sector. We'd love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for topics for future sessions. Get in touch at: [email protected]
The next seminar, "Has China Changed the Dynamic of R&D Outsourcing and Partnering in Biotech?", provides insights in engaging with China's rapidly growing life sciences ecosystem. Find out more and register.
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Why Regulated R&D Tax Advice Matters More Than Ever
Whether a business is developing medical devices, diagnostic platforms, digital health technologies, therapeutics, clinical tools or advanced healthcare systems, R&D tax relief can provide vital support. Read the article about protecting your business in a higher-scrutiny R&D tax landscape by One Nucleus member LimestoneGrey.
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