Magnitude Biosciences Raises €1.5 Million to Scale In Vivo Drug Discovery

UK biotech company Magnitude Biosciences has secured €1.5 million (£1.3 million) in new investment to scale its in vivo drug discovery platform and accelerate the commercial development of its technology.

The Durham University spinout, founded in 2018, operates as a specialist contract research organisation focused on improving how potential treatments are discovered and tested. Its technology is designed to help researchers evaluate drug candidates using living organisms rather than relying solely on traditional cell-based approaches.

The latest investment was backed by Northstar Ventures through its North East Spinout Inspire Fund, North East Innovation Fund and Northstar EIS Growth Fund, alongside Maven Capital Partners’ regional funds and new angel investors. The financing also unlocked a further £217,000 Innovate UK Investor Partnership grant.

At the heart of Magnitude’s offering is VivoScan, a high-throughput screening platform that combines C. elegans worms, automated imaging, robotics and data analysis to examine the effects of large numbers of compounds in vivo. By studying biological responses in whole organisms, the platform aims to provide drug developers with richer data earlier in the discovery process.

The approach is particularly relevant to research into ageing and age-related diseases, where understanding how potential therapies affect an entire organism can reveal insights that may not be visible through conventional laboratory testing.

The company is led by Dr. Fozia Saleem, who became CEO in October 2022. She brings management and life-sciences experience to Magnitude as the company moves from technology development toward broader commercial adoption.

Magnitude's latest funding will support the continued commercialisation and scaling of VivoScan, helping pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies access faster and more cost-effective in vivo screening capabilities.

The company’s broader ambition is to make whole-organism drug discovery scalable enough to screen millions of compounds, potentially helping researchers identify promising treatments earlier while reducing the time and cost involved in bringing new therapies through the discovery pipeline.