£15.9m Investment to Power Next-Generation Human Disease Modelling

Medicines Discovery Catapult helps UK scientists deploy more predictive models of human disease and reshape drug discovery

11 November 2025 -- Cheshire, UK -- The Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, and Innovate UK have today announced a major new £15.9m initiative to enable the development of advanced, specific and highly reproducible human-based in vitro models of disease, with the aim of making them widely available to researchers in academia and industry.

Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) will collaborate with researchers on four funded projects to support the development and adoption of these models.

Improving how we model human diseases in the lab will help scientists test new treatments more reliably before they reach patients in clinical trials. This leads to smarter decisions earlier in the drug development process, resulting in safer and more effective medicines as well as better outcomes for patients.

These models will also help to reduce the reliance on animal (in vivo) models in research and drug development. While in vivo models remain important in preclinical research, they have limitations because they do not always reflect the full complexity of human disease.

MDC, a national life science service, will apply its drug discovery expertise to support academic leaders in developing and advancing their models for wider use. The projects, supported by MDC, include:

• University of Leicester: validating the use of living samples taken from patients’ tumours as a powerful alternative for testing new cancer medicines.
• Hull York Medical School, the University of Hull: developing artificial blood vessels to enable more accurate modelling and drug testing for diseases related to blood clots.
• University of Oxford: advancing the use of human stem cells to better model human pain and support research into new pain medications.
• University of Nottingham: developing a multi-organ model that replicates metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), stimulating progress in disease understanding and treatment.

The projects will contribute to a toolkit of methods being developed to improve the use of human-based in vitro models in drug discovery, improving the translation of early research into successful clinical trials. The funding will be delivered in partnership with the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement, and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs).

Dr Martin Main, Chief Scientific Officer at Medicines Discovery Catapult, said:
“Medicines Discovery Catapult is proud to partner with pioneering academic collaborators, through this funding initiative, to help redefine the future of drug discovery. Together, we are merging cutting-edge systems with world-class scientific expertise to bridge the gap between early-stage data and clinical impact. By generating more powerful, predictive insights, we will accelerate the path to better treatments – and ultimately, improve patient outcomes.”

About Medicines Discovery Catapult
Medicines Discovery Catapult is a national Life Sciences service that reshapes drug discovery to deliver better treatments for patients. We partner with innovators across the sector, helping them turn bold scientific ideas into real-world impact. Our model supports drug discovery companies at every step, from early research through to commercialisation, by providing access to world-class science, laboratories, technologies, and expertise. We de-risk drug discovery, run collaborative R&D partnerships, and reinvest in our sector to drive growth. Visit: md.catapult.org.uk.

About Wellcome Trust
We were founded in 1936 after the death of Sir Henry Wellcome, a pharmaceutical entrepreneur, with a pioneering approach to drug design. In his will, he left us three important things: his wealth; his collection of historical medical items; and our mission to improve health through research. Since our formation, we have supported breakthroughs in scientific discoveries and advocated for policies to improve health for everyone. Today, Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We have four programmes of work: one for discovery research, and three to find solutions for the challenges of mental health, climate and health, and infectious diseases. Visit: wellcome.org.

About Innovate UK
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is the UK’s innovation agency. Our mission is to help companies to grow through their development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive and easy to navigate. Visit: ukri.org/councils/innovate-uk.