UK biotech launches world-first lab-grown human muscle platform to transform drug testing

• A pioneering UK biotech company is set to transform the drug testing market with the development of advanced, lab-grown human muscle.
• Myomaker Bio has developed advanced human muscle models designed to more accurately replicate how medicines behave in the human body
• The business aims to accelerate drug development and reduce reliance on animal testing.

22 April 2026 -- Loughborough, UK -- Myomaker Bio, a spin-out from Loughborough University, is scaling its technology to support pharmaceutical and biotech companies in developing new treatments faster, more accurately and without the need for testing on animals.

The team of scientists and researchers behind the business are world-leaders in muscle biology, and have created bioengineered human muscle tissues and organs that replicate the structure and function of real skeletal muscle.

These advanced platforms allow researchers to study human muscle biology, injury, regeneration and drug response in a controlled laboratory environment. They will also allow drug developers earlier and more reliable insights into how their medicines will behave in real patients before going to clinical trial.

Professor Mark Lewis, who co-founded Myomaker Bio, recently left the University to become full-time CEO of the business as it scales. Prof. Lewis said: “Drug development remains slow, expensive and heavily dependent on animal testing, which doesn’t always predict human outcomes. Our human muscle platforms are designed to bridge that gap.

“As pharmaceutical companies search for more effective and ethical research models, human tissue platforms such as ours could transform the preclinical testing landscape. By recreating human muscle biology in the laboratory, we can give drug developers a far more accurate way to evaluate medicines earlier in the development process. Ultimately, this means safer treatments reaching patients faster while reducing the need for animal testing.”

Now based in laboratory facilities in London, Myomaker Bio is preparing to scale rapidly. It recently secured £325,000 investment from SFC Capital to accelerate the development and commercialisation of its pioneering technology.

The funding will allow the company to expand its scientific team, scale production of its bioengineered muscle models and strengthen partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide.

The technology builds on more than 50 years of combined research by the business’s scientific team, who have collectively secured more than £37 million in research funding and published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in the field of muscle biology.

Speaking of the investment, Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University, said: “This is an exciting moment for Myomaker Bio. The team’s pioneering work in engineered human muscle systems is opening entirely new possibilities for safer, faster and more human-relevant drug discovery. This investment will accelerate their journey from breakthrough science to real-world impact.”

About Myomaker Bio
Myomaker Bio is a UK-based biotechnology company and contract research organisation (CRO) specialising in pre-clinical muscle biology. Co-founded by CEO Professor Mark Lewis and CSO Dr Andy Capel, the business was spun out of Loughborough University in 2023 to commercialise 50 years of knowledge acquisition. The company partners with pharmaceutical and biotechnology organisations to provide advanced laboratory models that enable more accurate testing of drug candidates on human muscle systems. Myomaker Bio develops 3D human-derived muscle organs and complex tissue systems that can be used for bespoke pre-clinical testing assays. These models allow pharmaceutical and biotech companies to analyse how drugs interact with muscle tissue under realistic conditions. Human-relevant tissue platforms are increasingly recognised as critical tools in modern drug discovery and development. Traditional pre-clinical models, particularly animal testing, often fail to accurately predict how drugs will behave in the human body. Advanced systems such as engineered human muscle tissues can provide earlier insight into safety, efficacy and biological mechanisms, helping reduce risk and accelerate drug development. Myomaker Bio builds on decades of academic research in muscle biology and was established to translate this expertise into innovative technologies that improve the success rate of new drugs. For more information visit: myomakers.com/.