What Sprint Bioscience does

Sprint Bioscience AB (publ) is a Swedish preclinical drug discovery company founded in 2009 and headquartered at the Novum research park in Huddinge, Sweden. The company operates a proprietary fragment-based drug development platform that allows it to generate small-molecule drug candidates more time- and resource-efficiently than traditional high-throughput screening approaches, and to advance them through preclinical proof-of-concept before out-licensing. Its current portfolio centers on oncology and adjacent indications, including the VRK1 glioblastoma program, a MASH program being expanded into inflammatory diseases, and the TREX1 cancer immunotherapy program, which was sold to Gilead Sciences in November 2025 for a $14M USD upfront payment plus up to $400M USD in milestone-driven payments.

The company employs approximately 35 people, most of them laboratory scientists, and is led by CEO Johan Emilsson (since 2023), co-founder and CSO Martin Andersson, CBO Anne-Marie Wenthzel, and CFO Jenni Björnulfson (since 2026). Revenue is generated exclusively through out-licensing preclinical programs to global pharmaceutical companies, with payments structured as upfront fees, development and regulatory milestones, and potential royalties on commercialized products. Sprint Bioscience is publicly listed on Nasdaq First North Premier, has raised capital through repeated rights issues between 2018 and 2025, and has historically received early-stage backing from Almi Invest and Första Entreprenörsfonden.

Name

Sprint Bioscience

Legal name

Sprint Bioscience AB (publ)

Website

https://sprintbioscience.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Sprint Bioscience is a Swedish preclinical biotech that uses a proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform to generate oncology drug candidates and out-license them to global pharmaceutical companies during the preclinical phase.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Preclinical Oncology Drug Development

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Clinical Development (Phase I–III Trial Design & Execution) (HLAIALAE)

akta.pro secondary industry

Cardiometabolic Pharmaceuticals (Cardiovascular/Diabetes/Obesity) (HLAIAAAE)

Keywords

• Fragment-based drug discovery
• Preclinical drug development
• Oncology drug discovery
• Drug out-licensing
• Fragment-based lead generation

Headquarters

HQ city

Stockholm

HQ country

Sweden

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Out-licensing of drug programs: Sprint Bioscience develops drug programs through preclinical phase and out-licenses them to global pharmaceutical companies. Revenue is generated through upfront payments upon signing, milestone payments tied to clinical, regulatory, and commercial progress, and potential royalty payments on product sales.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Sprint Bioscience develops preclinical drug programs for cancer and other indications using a proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform, then out-licenses these programs to global pharmaceutical companies during the preclinical phase. Revenue is generated through upfront payments, development and regulatory milestones, and royalties on commercialized products. Current portfolio programs include VRK1 (glioblastoma) and MASH (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis expanded into inflammatory diseases); the TREX1 program was sold to Gilead Sciences in November 2025.

Product overview

Sprint Bioscience is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative drug candidates for cancer treatment. The company operates a portfolio of drug development programs including the VRK1 program (oncology), TREX1 program (oncology immunotherapy, sold to Gilead), and MASH program (metabolic/inflammatory diseases). All programs are developed using the company's fragment-based drug development methodology and out-licensed to global pharmaceutical partners during the preclinical phase.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• VRK1 Program A preclinical oncology drug program targeting VRK1 (Vaccinia-Related Kinase 1) for the treatment of glioblastoma, demonstrating selective killing of cancer cells with low VRK2 expression. Developed using the company's fragment-based drug discovery platform and intended for out-licensing to global pharmaceutical partners during the preclinical phase.
• MASH Program A preclinical drug program for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) being expanded into inflammatory diseases through a research collaboration with EDDC in Singapore. Compounds developed by Sprint Bioscience are evaluated by EDDC in inflammatory disease models to assess broader anti-inflammatory effects, with EDDC holding the opportunity to take over and further develop the program and future revenues shared between the partners based on each party's investment.

Quantifiable outcome

• VRK1 inhibition selectively kills glioblastoma cells with low VRK2 levels while cells with normal VRK2 levels remain unaffected

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Gilead Sciences, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 November 2025Sprint Bioscience sold its TREX1 cancer program to Gilead Sciences. The deal included an upfront payment of $14 million USD with potential milestone payments tied to clinical, regulatory, and commercial progress totaling up to $400 million USD. This transaction validated Sprint Bioscience's technology platform and served as a quality seal, opening doors to new contacts and increasing interest in the entire portfolio.
• Experimental Drug Development Centre (EDDC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 19 June 2025Sprint Bioscience entered a research collaboration with EDDC in Singapore to expand its MASH (Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis) program into inflammatory diseases. EDDC, Singapore's national drug research and development platform and part of A*STAR, will evaluate compounds developed by Sprint Bioscience in inflammatory disease models to assess broader anti-inflammatory effects. Following evaluation, EDDC will have the opportunity to take over and further develop the program. Future revenues will be shared between Sprint Bioscience and EDDC based on each party's investment.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Charles River Laboratories: Large global CRO offering preclinical discovery and development services to pharma and biotech. Comparable as a much larger incumbent in the preclinical discovery services space Sprint Bioscience competes for partnership attention within.

Direct peers

• Evotec: German drug discovery platform operating a hybrid CRO/owned-pipeline model with extensive pharma partnerships. Comparable on the fragment-based and structure-enabled discovery capabilities that compete for the same pharma BD spend.
• Vernalis (HitGen): Fragment- and structure-based drug discovery specialist (Vernalis now part of HitGen). Highly comparable as a fellow fragment-based discovery organization that historically out-licensed programs to global pharma.
• Schrödinger: US-listed computational drug discovery platform that combines physics-based modeling with collaborative discovery partnerships to generate and out-license programs to pharma. Comparable on capital-light, software- and platform-enabled drug discovery economics.
• Oncopeptides: Swedish oncology biotech (Nasdaq Stockholm) focused on difficult-to-treat cancers. Comparable geography, oncology focus, and small-cap public company profile; board member Fredrik Lehmann has prior Oncopeptides operating experience.
• BioInvent International: Swedish clinical-stage oncology biotech listed on Nasdaq Stockholm that similarly develops novel immuno-oncology and oncology programs with multiple partnership/deal economics. Highly comparable given shared geography, stage, and out-licensing model.
• Redx Pharma: UK-listed preclinical oncology company developing small-molecule drug candidates for hard-to-treat cancers, with a model of advancing programs to value-inflection points for partnership or out-licensing.

Regional players

• Medivir: Swedish small-molecule biotech (Nasdaq Stockholm) with a portfolio approach to oncology and infectious disease, often pursuing out-licensing transactions. Comparable on Nordic small-cap small-molecule biotech economics.

Emerging players

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: Tech-driven drug discovery platform combining AI/ML with high-throughput biology to generate partnered programs for pharma. Comparable as a platform-economics, out-licensing-oriented discovery company competing for similar pharma BD budgets.
• XChem: Fragment-based drug discovery CRO/platform that generates novel chemical matter for pharma partners using DEL and fragment screening. Comparable on the core fragment-based discovery methodology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sprint-bioscience
• Facebookfacebook.com/sprintbioscience

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Sprint Bioscience