What Lead Pharma does

Lead Pharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical research and development company that designs and develops innovative small-molecule therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer. Founded in 2007 and headquartered in the Netherlands, the company operates with a lean organization of 11-50 employees and runs a "Discover-Design-Deliver" platform that combines artificial intelligence with structure-based drug design, fragment-based screening, virtual screening, and target family-based screening. Its in-house capabilities span target identification through lead optimization and pre-clinical development, supported by proprietary RNA-sequencing datasets, genetic information, and patient and cell line repositories.

The company's pipeline comprises five distinct programs targeting key biological processes: the RORγt program has produced clinical-stage candidate SAR441169 (licensed to Sanofi); the ERRα program has advanced to a clinical selection candidate featuring what Lead Pharma describes as the first drug-like series of non-covalent, non-steroidal ERRα inverse agonists; the PRMT5 program (partnered with Roche) includes both SAM cooperative and MTA cooperative series targeting alternative RNA splicing in cancer; the TH17 program addresses an unaddressed target in the T helper 17 pathway validated in pre-clinical models; and a "New Targets" program pursues first-in-class and best-in-class opportunities via the AI-enhanced discovery engine.

Lead Pharma operates a partnership-driven business model with no direct product commercialization. Revenue is generated through out-licensing clinical-stage candidates and R&D collaboration agreements with larger pharmaceutical partners, notably Sanofi (RORγt) and Roche (PRMT5). The company is privately held and venture-backed by 819 Capital Partners, Biox Biosciences, and Waterman Ventures. End therapeutic markets include autoimmune patients (psoriasis, Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis) and oncology patients (melanoma, breast, colon, esophageal cancers, and treatment-resistant or refractory tumors).

Name

Lead Pharma

Legal name

Lead Pharma

Website

https://leadpharma.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lead Pharma is a Netherlands-based clinical-stage pharmaceutical R&D company that discovers and develops small-molecule therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer, out-licensing clinical-stage candidates such as SAR441169 (to Sanofi) and the PRMT5 program (to Roche) while advancing an internal pipeline including first-in-class ERRα inverse agonists.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pharmaceutical R&D

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Drug Discovery (Target ID/Validation & Hit Discovery) (HLAIALAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Lead Optimization & Preclinical Candidate Selection (HLAIALAB)

Keywords

• Small-molecule drug discovery
• Autoimmune disease therapies
• Oncology drug development
• Clinical-stage pharmaceuticals
• Pharmaceutical R&D

Headquarters

HQ city

Nijmegen

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

Revenue model

1. Partnerships and Licensing: Lead Pharma generates value through licensing agreements and strategic partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. The company advances candidates through discovery, design, and pre-clinical/early clinical development before out-licensing to larger pharma companies for late-stage development and commercialization.
2. R&D Collaboration Agreements: Strategic collaborations with pharmaceutical partners for co-development of drug candidates. The PRMT5 program is partnered with Roche in the immunology space, indicating a co-development or licensing structure.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Lead Pharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical R&D company that discovers, designs, and develops innovative small-molecule drug candidates for autoimmune diseases and cancer. The company operates a Discover-Design-Deliver platform combining AI with structure-based drug design, fragment-based screening, and in-house ADME models to advance candidates from target identification through pre-clinical and clinical development, primarily for out-licensing to larger pharmaceutical companies.

Product overview

Lead Pharma is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical R&D company that develops innovative small-molecule therapies to treat autoimmune diseases and cancer. The company's offerings consist of a pipeline of drug candidates targeting key biological processes including transcription, translation, and protein signaling. The core products include five distinct drug programs: RORγt (partnered with Sanofi, producing clinical candidate SAR441169), ERRα (clinical selection candidate), PRMT5 (in development with SAM and MTA cooperative series), TH17 (validated pre-clinical target), and New Targets (discovery stage). These programs are supported by a Discover-Design-Deliver platform that integrates artificial intelligence with in-house capabilities including structure-based drug design, various screening approaches, protein sciences, cellular assays, and translational screening cascades.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• RORγt Program A nuclear receptor target drug candidate program (retinoic acid-related orphan receptor gamma t) regulating the TH17 immune pathway. The program has produced the clinical-stage candidate drug SAR441169 and has been licensed to Sanofi for treatment of autoimmune diseases including psoriasis, Crohn's disease, and rheumatoid arthritis.
• ERRα Program Estrogen-related receptor alpha inverse agonist drug candidate program targeting mitochondrial function in cancer. Lead Pharma has developed the first drug-like series of potent, non-covalent, non-steroidal ERRα inverse agonists with dual mechanism of action including OXPHOS inhibition and immune reinvigoration. Currently at clinical selection candidate stage for oncology indications.
• PRMT5 Program Protein arginine methyl transferase 5 inhibitor drug candidate program targeting alternative RNA splicing in cancer. Lead Pharma has both SAM cooperative and MTA cooperative series in development for hematological and solid tumors, partnered with Roche in the immunology space.
• TH17 Program T helper 17 cell pathway drug candidate program for autoimmune diseases. Lead Pharma has identified a therapeutic target in the TH17 pathway that remains clinically unaddressed, validated in human immune cells and pre-clinical in vivo models.
• New Targets Discovery Program Continuous new target discovery effort working on several first-in-class and best-in-class new targets using AI-combined discovery engine based on RNA-sequencing data sets, genetic information, and patient and cell line repositories.

Quantifiable outcome

• RORγt project produced clinical stage candidate SAR441169
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• SanoficoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe RORγt project has been partnered with and licensed to Sanofi. Lead Pharma developed the clinical stage candidate drug SAR441169 for the RORγt program before licensing to Sanofi for further development and commercialization.
• RochecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe PRMT5 program in immunology is partnered with Roche. Lead Pharma has both SAM cooperative and MTA cooperative series in development for PRMT5 inhibition targeting cancer through alternative RNA splicing modulation.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Schrödinger, Inc. US-based computational/AI-driven drug design company with both proprietary pipeline and software-licensing business. Comparable on AI-augmented small-molecule discovery and co-development/partnering model.
• Evotec SE: German drug discovery and development company offering integrated R&D services and co-development partnerships across small molecules. Highly comparable on discovery-platform business model, pharma partnerships, and pipeline-of-candidates revenue approach.
• Galapagos NV: Belgian-Dutch small-molecule drug discovery company with strong autoimmune focus and a historical business model of developing candidates then partnering with major pharma. Direct comparability on modality (small molecule), therapeutic areas (autoimmune/immunology), and out-licensing strategy.
• Exscientia: AI-driven precision medicine company focused on small-molecule drug discovery with multiple pharma partnerships. Highly comparable on AI-augmented design approach and licensing/collaboration revenue model.
• Disc Medicine: Clinical-stage small-molecule biotech developing therapies for hematologic diseases, with a discovery engine producing differentiated candidates. Comparable on small-molecule modality, clinical-stage pipeline, and partnership-driven growth.
• Foghorn Therapeutics: Clinical-stage biotech developing small-molecule drugs targeting chromatin biology in oncology. Comparable on small-molecule modality, oncology focus, and a discovery engine producing differentiated candidates for partnering.
• Nimbus Therapeutics: US-based small-molecule drug discovery company with a 'design, develop, and partner' model across immunology, oncology, and metabolic disease. Direct comparability on small-molecule focus, computational chemistry, and licensing clinical-stage assets to large pharma.

Emerging players

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals: AI-driven drug discovery company combining high-throughput biology with machine learning to generate small-molecule candidates. Comparable on technology-driven discovery approach and pharma partnership strategy, though at a different scale and stage.
• Hotspot Therapeutics: Early-stage biotech using a proprietary platform to identify small-molecule allosteric modulators targeting historically undruggable proteins. Comparable on differentiated discovery platform tackling difficult targets and partnership-driven business model.

Broad incumbents

• Charles River Laboratories: Large CRO providing drug discovery, development, and manufacturing services to pharma and biotech. Relevant as a broader incumbent offering comparable discovery capabilities (in vitro ADME, in vivo efficacy, etc.) that Lead Pharma uses or competes with for partnership work.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lead-pharma

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Lead Pharma