What Edelris does

Edelris is a privately held French drug discovery contract research organization (CRO) founded in 2005 and headquartered in Lyon, France. The company provides compound libraries, medicinal chemistry, high-throughput screening, and analytical chemistry services to pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetic, and crop protection clients, with a particular focus on small molecule drug discovery against challenging target classes. Following its 2024 integration with Janvier Group Biosciences, Edelris operates as part of a diversified group while maintaining its Lyon-based scientific operations.

The company's technical differentiation centers on the proprietary Keymical Space™, a curated collection of more than 2 million physical and approximately 50 million virtual sp3-rich, 3D-shaped, natural product-inspired screening compounds, supplemented by 153,000 natural product-inspired fragments, 800+ covalent compounds, and EdelREADY screening plates. These libraries are combined with Affinity Selection-Mass Spectrometry (AS-MS) screening through the proprietary EDEN™ platform (Edelris Discovery ENgine) to deliver validated hits on difficult targets including GPCRs, protein-protein interfaces, transcription factors, and RNA targets, with an end-to-end AS-MS turnaround of approximately 4 months. Edelris has pioneered E3-ligase biased library development since 2017 (originating from a collaboration with Craig Crews at Yale) and offers specialized differential and immobilized AS-MS methodologies for molecular glue and PROTAC discovery.

Edelris operates a fee-for-service business model with quote-based engagements tailored to client project requirements, delivering services through dedicated business development personnel including a Chief Business Officer. The company has produced documented outcomes including BAY-850 (Bayer's ATAD2 probe, IC50=22nM), nanomolar Cyclophilin D inhibitors for EMD Serono, CD10847 Caspase-1 inhibitor (IC50=17nM) for Galderma, and contributed to the clinical-stage asset Vonafexor with Poxel. Named enterprise clients include Bayer HealthCare, EMD Serono, Galderma, AstraZeneca, and Cedilla Therapeutics, alongside long-term collaborations with the European Lead Factory and academic partners at the University of Leeds and Technical University of Denmark.

Name

Edelris

Legal name

Edelris

Website

https://edelris.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2005

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Edelris is a Lyon-based French drug discovery CRO providing proprietary natural product-inspired compound libraries (Keymical Space™), AS-MS screening (EDEN™), medicinal chemistry, and analytical services to pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetic, and crop protection clients globally, with specialized capabilities in induced-proximity drug discovery.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Drug Discovery Contract Research (CRO)

NAICS

Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (541690)

SIC

Laboratory Analytical Instruments (3826)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Medicinal chemistry
• Drug discovery services
• Contract research
• Compound screening
• Chemical libraries

Headquarters

HQ city

Lyon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Contract Research Services (CRO): Edelris generates revenue through fee-for-service contract research engagements providing drug discovery services including screening, compound libraries, medicinal chemistry, custom synthesis, and analytical chemistry to pharmaceutical, biotech, cosmetic, and crop protection clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Edelris is a medicinal chemistry contract research organization that delivers integrated drug discovery services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetics, and crop-protection clients. Its core offering combines a proprietary Affinity Selection Mass Spectrometry screening platform (EDEN) with curated compound collections (Keymical Space, Keymical Fragments, Covalent Keymical Collections, DNA-encoded libraries), medicinal chemistry for hit-to-lead and lead optimization, custom synthesis, and analytical chemistry.

Product overview

Edelris is a leading Drug Discovery CRO providing a comprehensive suite of services and proprietary products for small molecule drug discovery. The core offerings include Screening technologies (AS-MS via the EDEN platform), Compound collections (Keymical Collections including Covalent, Fragment, EdelREADY, and DNA-encoded libraries), Medicinal chemistry (Hit-to-Lead and Lead Optimization), Custom synthesis & Route scouting, and Analytical chemistry. The company has developed a differentiated technology platform centered on its proprietary Keymical Space (2M+ screening compounds, 50M virtual structures) combined with AS-MS screening capabilities. Additionally, Edelris offers specialized Induced-Proximity Drug Discovery services for PROTACs and molecular glue degraders, with dedicated AS-MS screening methodologies including Differential AS-MS and Immobilized AS-MS for molecular glue discovery. Services are delivered to Pharmaceutical, Cosmetic, Crop Protection, and Biotech sectors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EDEN (Edelris Discovery ENgine): Platform combining Affinity Selection-Mass Spectrometry screening with multimillion compound proprietary Keymical Space for discovering novel hits
• Keymical Collections
• Keymical Space
• Keymical Fragments
• EdelREADY
• Covalent Keymical Collections
• European Lead Factory

Products and services

• EDEN Affinity Selection Mass Spectrometry (AS-MS) Screening Proprietary label-free, immobilization-free AS-MS screening service that identifies compounds binding to protein targets; offered as a contract screening service to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, cosmetics, and crop-protection R&D teams.
• Keymical Space Screening Collections Proprietary, curated, and diversified compound screening library used within Edelris's AS-MS and medicinal chemistry services; available to clients screening against their targets.
• Keymical Fragments Library Proprietary fragment-based screening collection for fragment-based drug discovery, offered as part of Edelris's screening and chemistry services.
• Covalent Keymical Collections Proprietary covalent screening library designed to identify covalently binding compounds against client targets, delivered as a screening service.
• DNA-Encoded Libraries (DEL) DNA-encoded library screening service enabling ultra-large library screening against client targets, complementing the EDEN AS-MS platform.
• Medicinal Chemistry Services Integrated medicinal chemistry for hit-to-lead and lead optimization, including structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies and analog synthesis for pharma, biotech, cosmetics, and crop-protection programs.
• Custom Synthesis Custom chemical synthesis of client-specified molecules and analogs to support drug discovery and crop-protection / cosmetics research programs.
• Analytical Chemistry Services Analytical chemistry support for screening, synthesis, and medicinal chemistry campaigns, including characterization of compounds generated for clients.
• Induction-Proximity Drug Discovery Differentiated drug discovery modality offered by Edelris that exploits induction-proximity mechanisms for novel target modulation, delivered as a contract research service.

Quantifiable outcome

• BAY-850 identified as potent (IC50=22nM), selective, cell-active isoform-selective ATAD2 chemical probe with unprecedented mode of action for Bayer HealthCare
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Craig Crews (Yale University)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2017Edelris began pioneering E3-ligase-biased library development in 2017 through an initial collaboration with Craig Crews at Yale. This foundational partnership established Edelris' expertise in targeted protein degradation and E3-ligase biased library design.
• AstraZenecaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerAstraZeneca co-hosts the 6th Edelris Annual Symposium on AS-MS in Drug Discovery at The Discovery Centre (DISC), Cambridge, UK in September 2026. The collaboration represents a strategic industry partnership for scientific networking and technology promotion in the AS-MS field.
• European Lead FactorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEdelris is a key contributor to the European Lead Factory, a pan-European collaborative platform of 30 partners (pharma companies, SMEs, and academic centers) working to build a 500,000-compound screening collection. Edelris collaborated with University of Leeds (Profs Nelson and Marsden) and Technical University of Denmark (Profs Clausen and Nielsen) to establish a platform delivering 10,000 molecules yearly, achieving 40,000 sp3-rich compounds over 5 years. Edelris published 11 articles related to this project.
• University of LeedscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner collaborating with Edelris on the European Lead Factory project, contributing to the design and synthesis of innovative scaffold-based compound libraries.
• Technical University of DenmarkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner collaborating with Edelris on the European Lead Factory project, contributing expertise in chemical synthesis and library design alongside Profs Clausen and Nielsen.
• INSERMminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Edelris on the FUI-funded NATHEB project for the development of Vonafexor, an FXR agonist for hepatitis B treatment.
• Janvier GroupflagshipOthersEdelris was integrated with the global Janvier Group Biosciences in 2024. Jean-Yves Ortholand served as CEO from 2005 to 2022 and then as Chief Business and Strategy Officer from 2022-2024. The integration represents a significant corporate structure change.
• Mestrelab ResearchminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of the 2024 and 2025 Edelris AS-MS Symposium events.
• HamiltonminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of the 2025 Edelris AS-MS Symposium (6th edition).
• Beckman CoulterminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSponsor of the 2025 Edelris AS-MS Symposium (6th edition).

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Eurofins Discovery: Discovery arm of Eurofins Scientific offering compound libraries, in vitro pharmacology, and medicinal chemistry services. Broader portfolio than Edelris but with overlapping screening and chemistry offerings to similar pharma/biotech buyers.
• WuXi AppTec: China-headquartered global CRO/CDMO with extensive medicinal chemistry and discovery capabilities. Competes with Edelris for outsourced pharma chemistry work but at vastly greater scale and broader service breadth.
• Charles River Laboratories: Large global CRO offering discovery, safety assessment, and manufacturing services. Overlaps with Edelris in medicinal chemistry and in vitro discovery but operates at dramatically larger scale across multiple service lines.

Direct peers

• Evotec: Hamburg-based integrated drug discovery CRO offering medicinal chemistry, screening, and induced-proximity services. Closest comparable to Edelris in business model, customer base (pharma/biotech), and end-to-end discovery offering, but at much larger scale.
• NuChem Therapeutics: Canada-based medicinal chemistry CRO focused on small molecule drug discovery for biotech and pharma. Comparable boutique CRO scale and customer overlap, with similar fee-for-service chemistry engagement model.
• Selvita: Poland-headquartered CRO offering medicinal chemistry, in vitro pharmacology, and integrated drug discovery. Comparable in scale and breadth to Edelris, with overlapping pharma/biotech client base and similar fee-for-service CRO economics.
• Sygnature Discovery: UK-based drug discovery CRO of similar size and focus, providing medicinal chemistry, DMPK, and in vitro biology services to pharma and biotech. Comparable specialty-CRO model with a similar European footprint and enterprise pharma client base.
• Domainex: UK-based integrated drug discovery CRO with services spanning medicinal chemistry, assay development, and computational chemistry. Comparable boutique CRO profile with similar pharma/biotech client base.
• Reaction Biology: US-based CRO offering medicinal chemistry, in vitro pharmacology, and screening services. Comparable specialty CRO with overlapping biotech/pharma client base and discovery-focused offering.

Emerging players

• SpiroChem: Switzerland-based specialty chemistry CRO with expertise in 3D-rich, sp3-rich compound synthesis and parallel chemistry. Smaller and more narrowly focused than Edelris but conceptually adjacent on natural-product-inspired chemical matter.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/edelris
• Xx.com/edelris

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 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 Edelris