What ZoBio does

ZoBio is a privately held, boutique Contract Research Organization (CRO) founded in 2004 and headquartered at Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands. It delivers early-stage small molecule drug discovery services — spanning protein sciences, assay development and screening, structural biology, medicinal chemistry, and data sciences — to biotechnology and pharmaceutical clients globally. Its core proposition is integrated biophysics-driven hit identification for difficult targets, including protein-protein interactions (PPIs), molecular glues, allosteric sites, and proteins lacking well-defined binding pockets.

The company's platform combines multiple complementary biophysical methods: proprietary Target Immobilized NMR Screening (TINS), Surface Plasmon Resonance on five Biacore instruments (including a Biacore 8K+), high-throughput X-ray crystallography with automated soaking and PanDDA-based data processing, DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) screening, isotopic labeling in mammalian (HEK293) expression, and NMR-based structural biology. A dynamic fragment library of approximately 2,400 compounds underpins fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) campaigns, supported by collaborations with SpiroChem, Edelris, and academic partners for 3D fragment chemistry. As of early 2024, ZoBio operates as part of Oncodesign Services following acquisition, extending service reach into cellular assays, ADME/PK, and in vivo pharmacology through IND-enabling studies. The company is recognized for contributing to clinical-stage assets including MRTX1719 (PRMT5, MTAP-deleted cancers), HRX215 (MKK4, liver regeneration), and lead candidates against the METTL3/METTL14 complex.

ZoBio monetizes exclusively through fee-for-service contract research with bespoke project scoping and custom-quoted pricing tied to scope, complexity, and timeline. Client acquisition is sales-led, driven by direct scientific outreach, peer-reviewed publications, scientific webinars (e.g., "Using Fragments to Uncover New Ligandable Sites"), and active presence at conferences including EFMC, RICT, SLAS Europe, the Biophysics for Drug Discovery Summit, TFMED, the Fragment-Based Lead Discovery Conference, and DiPIA. Customer engagement is collaborative and long-cycle, with named clients including Mirati Therapeutics, Gotham Therapeutics, ESSA Pharma, and HepaRegeniX, plus academic and consortium partners such as ETH Zürich, Karolinska Institutet, and Leiden University. The company operates with approximately 35-37 employees and does not publicly disclose revenue.

Name

ZoBio

Legal name

ZoBio BV

Website

https://zobio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ZoBio is a Leiden-based boutique CRO specializing in early-stage small molecule drug discovery for biotech and pharmaceutical clients. It integrates fragment-based screening, DEL screening, NMR, SPR, and X-ray crystallography to deliver validated hits for challenging targets including PPIs and molecular glues.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drug Discovery Contract Research Services

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417), Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Preclinical CROs (Discovery/Pharmacology/DMPK) (HLAGAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

AI/ML Platforms for Drug Discovery & Experiment Optimization (HLAGAJAO)

Keywords

• Fragment-based drug discovery
• Biophysical screening services
• Structural biology CRO
• DNA-encoded library screening
• NMR-based drug discovery

Headquarters

HQ city

Leiden

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Contract Research Services (CRO): ZoBio provides fee-for-service contract research in early-stage small molecule drug discovery, including fragment screening, biophysical characterization, structural biology, and medicinal chemistry support. Services are custom-tailored to client projects with pricing based on scope, complexity, and timeline.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

ZoBio is a boutique contract research organization providing fee-for-service early-stage small molecule drug discovery for biotech and pharmaceutical companies. Its core offerings include Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD), DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) hit discovery, structural biology (NMR and X-ray crystallography), SPR biophysics, and medicinal chemistry support. The integrated platform delivers validated, progressible hit matter for challenging targets including protein-protein interactions, molecular glues, covalent compounds, and allosteric sites.

Product overview

ZoBio is a boutique Contract Research Organization (CRO) specializing in early-stage small molecule drug discovery, offering an integrated discovery platform that progresses projects from gene-to-lead. The core offering consists of Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) Services and DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) Hit Discovery, supported by complementary Structural Biology Services (combining NMR and X-ray Crystallography), SPR biophysics, and proprietary technologies including Target Immobilized NMR Screening (TINS) and specialized isotopic labeling in mammalian expression. The platform integrates protein production, diverse fragment libraries (~2,400 compounds), biophysical screening technologies, and medicinal chemistry support to deliver validated hit matter for novel and challenging drug targets including PPIs, molecular glues, and hard-to-drug proteins.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) Services Integrated fragment screening and compound profiling services for biotech and pharmaceutical companies, combining proprietary TINS (Target Immobilized NMR Screening) and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) with biochemical assays to identify and characterize hits across the full binding-affinity range.
• DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) Hit Discovery Service Comprehensive DEL hit discovery service combining structure-grade protein production, quantitative biophysics, DEL screening, off-DNA hit validation, and X-ray crystallography into a single integrated workflow for biotech and pharmaceutical clients targeting challenging drug targets including protein-protein interactions.
• Structural Biology Services Combined NMR and X-ray crystallography structural biology services for drug discovery, with synergistic use of both technologies to deliver 3D structural information earlier and more robustly on challenging targets than either method alone, supporting structure-based drug design.
• NMR Services NMR-based services for biotech and pharmaceutical clients including ligand-observed and protein-observed methods for fragment screening, hit validation, orthogonal confirmation of compound binding, binding site mapping, and structural biology in solution, especially for challenging systems where crystallography is not feasible.
• X-ray Crystallography Services High-throughput X-ray crystallography services for rapid protein-ligand structure determination, featuring automated workflows, library screening up to 500 compounds, integration with iterative design cycles, and an option for target exclusivity on client programs.
• RNA Structure-Based Drug Discovery (DiscoveRNA) Automated pipeline for structure-based drug discovery using NMR for RNA targets, developed with ETH Zürich using machine learning to automate NMR data analysis and enable 3D structure determination of RNA-ligand complexes to guide medicinal chemistry.
• Isotopic Labeling in Mammalian Expression Exclusive capability for producing isotopically labeled proteins during HEK293 mammalian expression, with 13C-methyl MILV labeling (methionine, isoleucine, leucine, valine) tailored to research needs, enabling NMR studies of hard-to-express proteins that cannot be made in bacterial systems.
• Covalent Compound Screening Covalent compound library screening and characterization service for biotech and pharmaceutical clients using NMR to assess compound specificity, detect heterogeneity, and identify non-covalent interactions for covalent drug discovery campaigns.

Quantifiable outcome

• MRTX1719 clinical candidate for MTAP-deleted cancers entered clinical trials, demonstrating ~70x preferential killing of MTAP-deleted cells over WT cells
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Oncodesign ServicescoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024ZoBio was acquired by Oncodesign Services (ODS) in early 2024. The acquisition combines ZoBio's innovation in protein production, Fragment-Based Drug Discovery, and structural biology with ODS's expertise in cellular assays, medicinal chemistry, early ADME/PK, and in vivo pharmacology through IND-enabling studies. ODS has ~220 employees in Dijon and Paris-Saclay (France), with satellites in Montreal (Canada) and Boston (USA), and has helped develop more than 20 clinical stage drugs.
• ETH Zürich (Prof. Peter Güntert and Prof. Roland Riek)minorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021ZoBio and ETH Zürich were awarded a €1.2 million EUREKA Eurostars grant (DiscoveRNA project) to establish an automated pipeline for structure-based drug discovery using NMR for RNA targets. ZoBio will integrate machine learning algorithms developed at ETH into its existing NMR SBDD platform to create a streamlined 3D structure determination pipeline for RNA-ligand complexes.
• AxxamcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Axxam and ZoBio formed a strategic alliance integrating their drug discovery service platforms. The alliance provides access to Axxam's protein production, engineering, and screening technologies (cellular, biochemical, high-content, and biophysical assays) combined with ZoBio's fragment libraries, TINS NMR screening, SPR, and structural biology. The collaboration enables seamless hit-to-lead progression under a single contractual arrangement, with HTS and fragment approaches complementing each other.
• Mirati TherapeuticscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2020Mirati selected ZoBio to provide fragment-based screening, biophysical characterization, and structural biology for several oncology targets. ZoBio screened its fragment library using TINS NMR and SPR, with medicinal chemistry decision-making aided by NMR and X-ray crystallography. Collaboration contributed to the PRMT5/MRTX1719 program (entered clinical trials) and SOS2:KRAS PPI inhibitor research published in J. Med. Chem.
• Gotham TherapeuticsminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Gotham Therapeutics selected ZoBio to develop small molecules targeting epitranscriptomic targets. The collaboration yielded several lead candidates for the METTL3/METTL14 complex within 14 months. Gotham described ZoBio as a validation of their semi-virtual model and best-in-class CRO network.
• Karolinska Institutet (Prof. Janne Johansson group)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerZoBio collaborates with the Karolinska Institutet on Bri2 BRICHOS protein research for diseases related to protein misfolding such as Alzheimer's. ZoBio contributes SEC-MALS analysis to characterize BRICHOS oligomer structures alongside cryo-EM studies. The collaboration also focuses on developing small molecules that modulate BRICHOS activity.
• Radboud University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, SymeresminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerZoBio joined a consortium led by Prof. Iwan de Esch (VU) and Prof. Floris Rutjes (Radboud) with Symeres, funded by NWO's TTW program, to generate novel 3D fragment libraries. The project focuses on synthesizing 3D shaped small-sized rings using non-classical synthetic techniques. Well-behaved fragments will enhance ZoBio's fragment library.
• Leiden University (Prof. Ubbink lab)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerScientists from Prof. Ubbink's lab at Leiden University teamed up with ZoBio's Assay Development and Screening team to explore how lipid composition of nanodiscs impacts fragment-based drug discovery for membrane proteins. Funded by an AES grant from NWO, the collaboration revealed that lipid composition significantly influences off-target binding in SPR fragment screening.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Proteros Biostructures: Proteros is a Munich-based structural biology and biophysics CRO offering X-ray crystallography, cryo-EM, and fragment-based screening services for drug discovery. Highly comparable to ZoBio as a boutique European biophysics CRO serving pharma/biotech clients with similar hit identification workflows.
• Domainex: Domainex is a UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO offering protein production, assay development, structural biology, fragment screening (including FBDD), and medicinal chemistry. Directly comparable as a mid-sized European CRO with integrated biophysics-to-medchem capabilities similar to ZoBio.
• Astex Pharmaceuticals: Astex pioneered Pyramid™, the original FBDD fragment screening platform, and remains a leading FBDD-based drug discovery company (acquired by Otsuka in 2013). Closely comparable to ZoBio in FBDD methodology and target-class expertise, though Astex is more pharma-integrated.
• Vernalis Research (HitGen): Vernalis (now part of HitGen) is a structure-based drug discovery CRO with deep expertise in fragment-based lead discovery and SBDD. Directly comparable FBDD service offering and target-class focus; HitGen additionally operates one of the world's largest DEL platforms.
• XChem Pharmaceuticals: XChem is a UK-based FBDD specialist offering large bespoke fragment libraries and crystallography-enabled fragment screening services. Directly comparable as a fragment-screening CRO with a similar technology-led value proposition for biotech and pharma clients.
• Crelux (WuXi AppTec): Crelux, now part of WuXi AppTec, is a Munich-based protein production and crystallography-focused CRO. Comparable to ZoBio in biophysics and structural biology services, though Crelux benefits from WuXi's much larger global CRO footprint.

Broad incumbents

• Evotec SE: Evotec is a large publicly-listed German drug discovery CRO offering end-to-end services from target ID to clinical candidate selection, including fragment screening and structural biology. Overlaps with ZoBio's service portfolio but at substantially greater scale and across a much broader therapeutic and service scope.
• Charles River Laboratories: Charles River is a global CRO offering discovery services including structural biology and biophysics capabilities. Overlaps with ZoBio on a small portion of its portfolio but operates at vastly larger scale across preclinical and clinical services.

Others

• Oncodesign Services (parent): Oncodesign Services is ZoBio's parent company following the 2024 acquisition, providing cellular assays, medicinal chemistry, ADME/PK, and in vivo pharmacology through IND-enabling studies. Not a peer but the most relevant ecosystem partner — represents ZoBio's integrated discovery-to-IND counterpart.
• Axxam: Axxam is a Milan-based CRO offering protein production, biochemical/cellular assays, and HTS services. ZoBio and Axxam formed a strategic alliance in 2020 to offer an integrated HTS-plus-FBDD discovery workflow; not a direct competitor but a complementary partner addressing the same client base.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/zobio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 ZoBio