Developer · United Kingdom

Draig Therapeutics Ltd

Private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company headquartered at Sbarc | Spark, Maindy Road, Cardiff, Wales, with a US presence in Massachusetts. Co-founded in 2024 by Cardiff University's Medicines Discovery Institute and SV Health Investors; the name is Welsh for 'dragon'. Scientific founders are Professors Simon Ward (Chief Scientific Officer) and John Atack (Head of Biology / Chief Translational Officer), both directors of the Medicines Discovery Institute; Ivana Magovcevic-Liebisch became President and CEO in November 2025 and Douglas E. Williams became Board Chair in July 2025. The company develops highly subtype-selective modulators of validated ionotropic receptors in neuropsychiatry. Its lead asset is DT-101, an AMPA receptor positive allosteric modulator in Phase 2 for major depressive disorder; two preclinical GABA-A programmes follow — DT-201, a selective alpha5-GABA-A negative allosteric modulator, and DT-301, a selective alpha2/alpha3-GABA-A positive allosteric modulator designed to avoid alpha1 and alpha5 activity and thereby sedation and cognitive impairment. Total funding is approximately $205 million: a $140 million launch package announced June 2025 (Series A led by Access Biotechnology with Canaan Partners, SR One, Sanofi Ventures and Schroders Capital, on top of seed funding from SV Health Investors and ICG) and a $65 million Series B in July 2026 led by Deep Track Capital with Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, British Business Bank and Jefferson Life Sciences.

draigtherapeutics.com ↗

1compound
1program
1indication
Phase 2lead asset

Phase distribution

  • Phase 21

Modality

  • Small molecule 1

Mechanism focus

Pipeline (1)

Deals & partnerships

  • Jul 14, 2026FinancingDraig Therapeutics closes oversubscribed $65 million Series BDraig closed an oversubscribed $65 million Series B led by Deep Track Capital, with Janus Henderson Investors, Marshall Wace, British Business Bank and Jefferson Life Sciences joining existing backers Access Biotechnology, Canaan Partners, SR One, Sanofi Ventures, Schroders Capital, SV Health Investors and ICG. Proceeds are directed at accelerating clinical development of the pipeline, principally DT-101, on the strength of the Phase 1 safety, tolerability, pulsatile-PK and target-engagement package. The round brings total funding to approximately $205 million, a little over a year after the company emerged from stealth. The release confirmed both Phase 2 MDD studies as ongoing — the global monotherapy study and the US adjunct study — but issued no new topline timing.DT-101source ↗
  • Jun 18, 2025FinancingDraig Therapeutics launches from stealth with $140 million total investmentDraig Therapeutics emerged from stealth announcing $140 million (GBP 107 million) raised over the preceding nine months: an oversubscribed Series A led by Access Biotechnology with Canaan Partners, SR One, Sanofi Ventures and Schroders Capital, on top of seed funding from co-founder SV Health Investors and ICG. Proceeds were earmarked for four clinical studies — two of them for DT-101 in major depressive disorder — and to move the two preclinical GABA-A programmes (DT-201, DT-301) into clinical development in 2026. The release also confirmed that DT-101's Phase 1 programme in over 60 subjects was complete, well tolerated, and had demonstrated target engagement by magnetoencephalography.DT-101source ↗

Catalysts · 2 upcoming

  • May 2027Anticipated

    DT-101forMajor depressive disorderRegistry results

    ClinicalTrials.gov estimated primary completion of AERON-1, the US Phase 2 adjunctive study of DT-101 in MDD (primary endpoint: change from baseline in MADRS total score at Day 56): May 2027.

    NCT07610473source ↗

  • 2H 2027Anticipated

    DT-101forMajor depressive disorderTopline data

    Topline results from Tarian-1, the global Phase 2 monotherapy study of DT-101 in major depressive disorder (primary endpoint: change from baseline in MADRS total score at Day 42), anticipated in the second half of 2027.

    NCT07300969source ↗

Recent activity

  • Jun 1, 2026Phase changeDT-101·Major depressive disorderPhase 2Estimated start of AERON-1 (NCT07610473, DT-101/202), the second Phase 2 study, evaluating DT-101 as an adjunct in adults with MDD already receiving pharmacological therapy for depression (118 participants, primary endpoint change from baseline in MADRS at Day 56). ClinicalTrials.gov gives the start as '2026-06' with type ESTIMATED and no day, so this date is the month anchor, not a confirmed first-patient-in. Status Recruiting as of the record's 2026-07-17 update; the 2026-07-14 Series B release also described both Phase 2 studies as ongoing.source ↗
  • Dec 16, 2025Phase changeDT-101·Major depressive disorderPhase 2Actual start date of Tarian-1 (NCT07300969, DT-101/201), the global Phase 2 monotherapy study of DT-101 in MDD, per ClinicalTrials.gov — the true Phase 2 transition. Registered on ClinicalTrials.gov 2025-12-24. Status Recruiting; estimated enrolment 300; primary endpoint change from baseline in MADRS at Day 42; two blinded DT-101 dose arms plus placebo.source ↗
  • Oct 2, 2025Phase changeDT-101·Major depressive disorderPhase 1FDA cleared the Investigational New Drug application for the Phase 2 study of DT-101 in major depressive disorder, enabling Draig to initiate Tarian-1 in Q4 2025. The release described the study as multi-centre, randomised, double-blind and placebo-controlled in more than 300 participants, launching first in the US and expanding to the UK and selected EU countries subject to regulatory approval, with a MADRS primary endpoint and topline anticipated in the second half of 2027. Recorded here rather than as an events[] row because the closed event vocabulary has no code for IND clearance (see _comment, gap 5). Phase is still logged as phase_1 on this date because clearance authorises but does not constitute the phase advance — no participant had been dosed in Phase 2.source ↗
  • Jun 18, 2025Phase changeDT-101·Major depressive disorderPhase 1First public disclosure of the programme, on emergence from stealth. Draig announced a $140 million total investment and stated that DT-101's Phase 1 programme in over 60 subjects was complete and had demonstrated target engagement using magnetoencephalography, with Phase 2 in major depressive disorder planned for 2025. The Phase 1 study is not registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, ISRCTN or the EU register — it was a UK healthy-volunteer CTIMP, for which publication requirements are deferred — so this date is the first citable public confirmation of completion and is an UPPER BOUND on the true completion date, not the completion date itself.source ↗

Trials recruiting · 2 recruiting of 2 sponsored

  • Phase 2DT-101n=1182 sites · United States

    A Phase 2 Double-blind, Randomised, Placebo-controlled Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of DT-101 in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder Receiving Pharmacological Therapy for Depression (AERON-1)

    Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)NCT07610473 ↗

  • Phase 2DT-101n=30040 sites · United States, United Kingdom, Bulgaria

    A Phase 2 Double-blind, Randomised, Placebo-controlled Study to Evaluate the Efficacy, Safety, Pharmacokinetics, and Pharmacodynamics of DT-101 in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) (Tarian-1)

    Major Depressive Disorder (MDD)NCT07300969 ↗

Competitive landscape

Other companies developing against Draig Therapeutics Ltd's targets or indications.