Myomaker Bio, a UK biotechnology company spun out from Loughborough University, has launched a lab-grown human skeletal muscle platform designed to improve preclinical drug testing and reduce reliance on animal models.

The company has developed engineered human muscle tissues that replicate aspects of native muscle structure and function, allowing researchers to study drug responses, muscle injury and regeneration in controlled laboratory conditions.

Myomaker Bio said the platform is intended to provide pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies with earlier insight into how drug candidates may behave in human tissue, potentially improving predictive accuracy ahead of clinical trials.

Professor Mark Lewis, chief executive officer and co-founder of Myomaker Bio, said current drug development remains heavily dependent on animal testing models that do not always reflect human biological responses.

“Our human muscle platforms are designed to bridge that gap,” Lewis said. “By recreating human muscle biology in the laboratory, we can give drug developers a more accurate way to evaluate medicines earlier in development.”

The company is now based in London and is preparing to scale its operations following £325,000 in seed funding from SFC Capital. The investment will support expansion of its scientific team, production capacity and commercial partnerships.

Myomaker Bio said its technology is built on more than 50 years of combined research in muscle biology and is supported by more than 100 peer-reviewed publications from its founding scientific team.

The company is positioning its platform within a broader shift in drug development towards human-relevant preclinical models, including engineered tissues and advanced in vitro systems designed to reduce late-stage clinical failure rates.

Professor Dan Parsons, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Loughborough University, said the technology could support faster and more human-relevant drug discovery as it transitions from academic research into commercial application.

Myomaker Bio was founded in 2023 as a contract research organisation focused on preclinical muscle biology and is now seeking partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.