Centre for Drug Design and Discovery

Centre for Drug Design and Discovery (CD3) is a Leuven, Belgium-based drug discovery center and investment fund established within KU Leuven Research & Development to translate academic and biotech science into medicines. The organization combines capital, medicinal chemistry, biology, and other drug discovery capabilities to advance early-stage programs and spinouts toward pharma partnering or company creation. CD3 primarily focuses on small-molecule discovery, with expanded capability in antibody technologies, across oncology, infectious disease, inflammation, neurodegeneration, pain, and metabolic disease. Its model is to de-risk university- and SME-originated projects through target validation, hit discovery, lead optimization, and preclinical development, then out-license or co-develop with pharmaceutical and biotech partners. CD3 has generated multiple partnered programs and licensing deals, including collaborations involving RSV antivirals, TEAD inhibitors, dengue antivirals, and MALT1 inhibitors.