Home

Drug Design MSc

London, Bloomsbury

This one-year, campus-based MSc offers a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of modern-day drug design. Taught by UCL’s research scientists, clinicians, and industry experts, it will give you an invaluable understanding of the drug design process. Graduates progress onto PhDs or medical studentships or go into sought-after employment in this highly specialist field.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2026/27)
£18,400
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)
£39,200
Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.
Duration
1 calendar year
5 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2026
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in a relevant subject from a UK university or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this course is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree


Drug design is an integral part of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. The UCL Division of Medicine and Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research are experts in training the next generation of drug discovery biologists and chemists in the field, particularly in drug discovery projects.

On this full-time MSc, you will develop the essential skills needed in this sought-after field, while exploring robust research methods and the most up-to-date drug design techniques.

The course covers all aspects of drug discovery, including genomics, bioinformatics, structural biology, cheminformatics, molecular modelling and fragment-based drug design, drug target selection, intellectual property and marketing. 

You will also deepen your knowledge and expertise of new therapies and research areas, such as antibodies, siRNA, stem cells and high throughput screening. Alongside this, you will develop your skills in translational research and apply these to your own research project for a minimum of three months.

This degree equips you with the skills to establish your career in drug design / discovery and related industries, including biotech, pharma, national research laboratories and NHS agencies. If you are an industry professional, you will gain a greater understanding of new methodologies to apply to your work and progress in new areas of drug design.

Who this course is for

This programme is suitable for life science graduates in biological sciences, chemical sciences, and pharmacy. It provides a solid foundation for establishing a career in drug design/discovery and related industries, or if you are an industry professional looking to gain a greater understanding of the latest drug design methodologies. You will also develop the knowledge and transferable skills needed to advance to a PhD or medical studies.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

This programme offers you the following benefits and opportunities:

  • An intensive course of study within the internationally renowned UCL Division of Medicine, supported by the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research.
  • A deeper understanding of the essential concepts, theory and practices of drug design and discovery.
  • The opportunity to undertake a minimum three-month research project in your chosen field.
  • Exposure to pioneering multidisciplinary research, with a particular emphasis on translating that research into useful clinical benefit. 
  • The chance to learn from, and contribute to, established research expertise in medicinal chemistry, computational drug design, neuronal development and signalling, cell cycle control, intensive care medicine, stem cells, mitochondrial biology, and cancer.
  • Opportunities to conduct translational research that has a globally-significant impact on drug discovery.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Graduates from this programme progress to PhD / medical studentships at universities and research institutes around the world, including Oxford, UCL, Grenoble, EMBL, and in the USA and China.

According to the HESA Graduate Outcomes survey (2018-2022), 87% of Drug Design MSc graduates progressed onto work (60%) or further study (27%), with a majority undertaking highly skilled roles.

Employability

According to the HESA survey, MSc Drug Design graduates have gone on to work for a range of employers. These include:

  • NHS Trusts.
  • Universities across Asia.
  • Clinical and pharmaceutical research organisations, such as Cambridge Healthcare Research, the Centre for Molecular Medicine, the Ontario Institute of Cancer Research, Medpace, Mtech Access and Novo Nordisk.
  • Health communications or science publication organisations, such as Elsevier and Oxford Pharmagenesis.
  • Professional service firms, such as Accenture and KPMG.

Their roles include natural and social science professionals, biological scientists, laboratory and pharmaceutical technicians, biochemists and biomedical scientists, quality assurance and regulation and IT and programming. Some have become science writers or periodical / broadcast editors.

It is also a pathway to further medical studies or a related PhD.

Networking

On this programme, there are many opportunities to network through our cross-disciplinary departments and research centres. In addition, you have chances to speak to our many external and expert speakers from industry after lectures. We encourage students to broaden their networks by attending special career workshops. Each year, students are also encouraged to join online seminars / workshops organised by industrial sectors to expand their skills.

Teaching and learning

The programme is delivered through a mix of lectures, tutorials, self-study, practical sessions and discussion groups. Your research project forms one third of the programme.

Each of the taught modules is assessed on a 50/50 split of unseen written examinations and coursework, such as written essays, practicals, and laboratory work.

The research project is assessed by dissertation, oral presentation, and an interdisciplinary three-minute video project.

Your weekly schedule will be made up of 6-8 contact hours over two days at the university campus, and 20 hours of independent learning in Terms One and Two. The contact hours could be lectures, practicals, or skill-based learning. The lab project (wet or computational) is full-time, five days a week, during the research period.

A Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) is also offered. A Postgraduate Certificate (60 credits) is also offered.

Modules

On this programme, you take eight core taught modules in Term One and Term Two. Through these, you will learn the essential concepts, theory and practices of drug design and discovery.

You will also develop transferable skills through individual and group activities, such as oral and poster presentation, literature review, essay writing, attending conferences and scientific talks. These concepts and skills will prepare you to do your research project in Term Three, where you will conduct real research in a UCL or industry setting.

Your project can be wet laboratory or computer/informatics-based and will last a minimum of three months.

If you are considering applying for a modular route, please contact us for updates.

Compulsory modules











Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Drug Design. Upon successful completion of 120 credits, you will be awarded a PG Dip in Drug Design. Upon successful completion of 60 credits, you will be awarded a PG Cert in Drug Design.

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

South Cloister, Wilkins Building, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom - Open day

Life and Medical Sciences Postgraduate Open Evening

—

Join us on campus to discover our Master’s degrees in Brain Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Medical Engineering, Population Health Sciences and Medical Anthropology. This event is ideal for prospective postgraduate students interested in Brain Sciences, Life Sciences, Medical Sciences, Medical Engineering, Population Health Sciences and Medical Anthropology.

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Drug Design MSc

Interested in a career in Pharmaceutical and biotech companies? This programme reflects the rapid changes resulted in the post genomics era in traditional drug discovery. Students will investigate the approaches and methods of modern drug discovery, particularly how to manage the diversity of the emerging knowledge. The programme is taught by research scientists, and industry experts. You will gain relevant drug design research project experience during the summer project period.

Watch on demand event

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Drug Design MSc and Clinical Drug Development MSc

Discover how the UCL Drug Design MSc and Clinical Drug Development MSc can equip you with cutting‑edge knowledge, hands‑on skills and the scientific insight needed to shape the future of therapeutics, from early‑stage molecular design to clinical evaluation.

Watch on demand event

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time
Tuition fees (2026/27) £18,400
Tuition fees (2026/27) £39,200

Programme also available on a modular (flexible) basis.

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a £350 deposit will be charged.

For modular/flexible offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a £500 deposit will be charged.

There is no fee deposit required for PG Dip and PG Cert applicants.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

There are no further additional costs for this programme.

For in-person teaching, UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

Bursaries are available for several Division of Medicine programmes. Find out if this course is eligible.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • why you want to study Drug Design at graduate level
  • why you want to study Drug Design at UCL
  • what particularly attracts you to this programme
  • how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this programme
  • where you would like to go professionally with your degree.

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2026-2027

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Division of Medicine
Division of Medicine

edith.chan@ucl.ac.uk

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.