Women in biotech leadership: one year on

Forewords

Jane Wall, Managing Director, BIA

When we published our first in sector leadership data last year, it was a call to ‘name the reality’ of the gender gap in UK biotech’s management teams and boardrooms. We knew women were hitting a ceiling as their careers and as companies matured; we finally had the numbers and the personal accounts to prove it.

Continuing to measure and track progress is important and this update is a necessary reality check. We celebrate the 'Series A superstars' who secured high-conviction capital, such as the landmark raises at Draig and T-Therapeutics. These results prove that female-led companies are delivering world-class science that is as attractive to investors as any male-led round in the market. At the same time, we must confront a sobering fact: systemically, the dial is stuck. Representation at CEO level has moved from 18.3% to 18.7%, a marginal gain that signals a plateau at a time when we need a breakthrough and Non-Executive Director (NED) statistics show a reversal of any recent gains made. In addition to the structural barriers identified in last year’s report, a political rhetoric is now gathering pace that threatens both progress in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and in global health initiatives.

Last year our report identified ‘next steps’ where it mattered and I’m proud of the significant progress:

• Continuing to build strong networks of women in the sector, across all stages but focussed on ensuring support as women progress towards senior positions.
• Supporting the investment community (Invest in Equity) and building CEO/investor links.
• Launching She Steers: NEDs in Biotech programme in collaboration with Murray Edwards College, AstraZeneca and Deloitte, to select and convene a cohort of future NEDs for the sector.

In identifying the core barriers for female leaders in biotech and in continuing to track progress, we will know where we need to put our efforts in order to move the dial.

Anne Horgan, Partner, Cambridge Innovation Capital Limited

At Cambridge Innovation Capital, we remain convinced that diversity is an important driver of world class innovation. This belief underpinned our collaboration with BIA in 2025, when we published the first Women in biotech leadership report – an effort to move beyond anecdote and establish a clear, data-driven picture of female leadership in UK biotech. By analysing a decade of C-suite representation alongside sector specific financing data for female led companies and complementing this with surveys and interviews, the report provided a timely and much needed baseline for the sector.

One year on, revisiting the data shows that many of these trends persist. The 2025 update highlights a resilient ecosystem, albeit one increasingly reliant on a small number of standout performers. Female CEOs secured 15% of total UK biotech capital, up from 8% in 2024, despite an overall decline in venture investment of more than 13%. This demonstrates that high quality science led by women can outperform even in risk averse markets. However, progress remains uneven, with capital concentrated in a limited number of large rounds. The evidence continues to point to strong leadership capability in the UK, while underscoring the need for that capability to be realised more broadly across the sector.

Sponsored by: 

 

 

With thanks to:

Wendy Quainoo for the data collection and analysis; Saqib Lal for editorial; Anne Horgan, Jessica Halliday and Emily James for the advice and review of the various drafts. Thank you to the WIB Advisory Group for the ongoing strategic guidance and support.

Summary

One year ago, we identified the structural barriers. Today, we are calling out the lack of progress. 2025 has been a year of caution and strategic maturation for the UK biotech sector, but for female leaders, it has been both hugely successful but also a fight against a new current.

We see a 'tale of two markets' in the 2025 data. On one hand, we have the Series A superstars, the high-conviction raises from the likes of Draig, T-Therapeutics and Elevara, which prove that female CEOs can outperform even the most risk-averse investment climate. On the other hand, the broader pipeline remains stuck.

The headline numbers tell the story of a plateau:

• Female CEO representation: has increased marginally to 18.7% from 18.3%.
• The 'outlier' effect: While capital raised by women increased to 15% (up from 8% in 2024), this growth is highly concentrated. If the top three Series A deals are removed, the female representation in total capital raised drops to just 6%.
• The technical wall: Representation in technical leadership remains the lowest across C-suite roles, with Chief Technology Officer (CTO) representation at 14% and Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) at 20%.

In identifying the core barriers for female leaders in biotech and in continuing to track progress, we can mobilise to move the dial.

Introduction

When we launched our first-of-its-kind report in 2024, we did so with a clear goal: to provide the data that would provide key insights into female representation in biotech. We identified an important trend; the point where women begin to disappear as careers move from the laboratory to the boardroom.

One year on, the landscape has become more challenging. The biotech sector has navigated a 'down' year, with capital becoming more selective and boardrooms retrenching to 'known' management teams. In our first report, we noted that female leaders are often more creative and resourceful in difficult environments. The 2025 data supports that finding.

However, we must be careful not to mistake a small number of exceptional results for systemic change. The fact that a handful of highly selective raises totalled over £170 million in a challenging year is a testament to the resilience of these specific ventures, but it does not address the underlying systemic barriers. This update examines why the dial is stuck and highlights the new headwinds, with political rhetoric now gathering pace that threatens both progress in DEI and in global health.

Methodology

This report analyses leadership barriers for female executives in biotechnology companies based in the UK. The data was collected through external data from Thelander, PitchBook Data Inc. and PIR International.

• Data sources and classification
• Company stage classification

Data sources and classification

PitchBook analysis is based on UK-headquartered companies classified under the following industry codes, as of January 2026:

• Biotechnology.
• Discovery tools (Healthcare).
• Drug delivery.
• Drug discovery.
• Pharmaceuticals.

Company stage classification

Companies were categorised using PitchBook’s deal classifications:

• Seed: Financing classified as Seed, or rounds fitting specific government-reported criteria.
• Early-stage venture: Typically includes Series A and B funding rounds.
• Later-stage venture: Generally, consists of Series C, D, or later financing rounds.
• IPOs.
• Follow-on investments: Includes secondary offerings and PIPE (Private Investment in Public Equity) deals:
  • Secondary offerings: Public sale of new stock by a company post-IPO.

PIPE investments: Private investors acquiring securities directly from a publicly traded company.

The 2025 data

Gender distribution in C-suite roles (2025) 

The 2025 data reveals that female representation in the life sciences sector has not changed meaningfully since last year. While we see movement in commercial roles, representation in the technical and top-tier leadership positions remains static.

• The Chief Business Officer (CBO) role has seen the most significant gain, rising to 34% (a 6% jump from 2024).
• Female CEO representation has plateaued at 18.7%, representing a marginal 0.4% increase from 2024.
• Technical leadership has remained stagnant since 2024, with CTO and CSO representation at 14% and 20%, respectively.

This distribution suggests that while women are increasingly taking up operational and commercial roles, the CEO and CTO roles are still dominated by men.

Females in C-suite roles: UK vs US (2025) 

While both the UK and US show similar trends, the 2025 data shows that the UK has stronger female representation in commercial, operational and technical roles.

• The UK has a greater female representation in CTO positions than the US, at 14% vs 8%, respectively.
• Neither the UK nor the US has seen any single C-suite role cross the 35% representation mark, presenting a 'structural cap' that persists regardless of the maturity of the biotech hub.
• Both regions show the strongest gains in business-facing roles (CBO and CFO). The 'commercialisation' of the C-suite is where we see the most progress, but it also highlights that women are still disproportionately taking operational support roles rather than the 'top seat' or 'technical lead'.

Source: Thelander, 2026

Capital flow

In 2024, we noted that female CEOs 'punch above their weight' in difficult environments. 2025 has provided further evidence to support of this resilience. In a year defined by a risk-averse investment climate, capital raised by female-led companies was up to 15% from 8% last year.

However, this number has some important caveats. Growth was highly concentrated in a few large rounds led by female CEOs, including Draig Therapeutics (£104 million), Elevara Therapeutics ($70 million) and T-Therapeutics (£72 million), accounting for the vast majority of this capital.

When these three high-value 'mega-deals' are removed, female representation in early-stage VC funding (Series A and B) drops to 6%, a share significantly lower than the headline figure suggests and more reflective of the broader investment landscape.

The deal gap

While the value of deals raised by women increased, the volume of deals did not. Total deal participation for female-led companies declined by 6% year-on-year. This disconnect suggests that while 'superstar' CEOs are securing massive rounds, female founders and leaders across the broader pool are finding it harder to secure funding in a constrained market.

The data highlights a distinct disparity when broken down by company stage. Female CEO representation actually peaks at the Early-Stage VC level (28%), yet this is precisely where women are underrepresented in their share of total capital secured. Conversely, female leaders at the Seed and Public/Follow-on stages demonstrate higher capital efficiency, frequently capturing a greater proportion of capital relative to their representation. This creates a 'funding bottleneck' at the Series A and B stages, where the most populous cohort of female leaders has the most difficulty securing scale-up investment at the same rate as male-led companies.

2025 leadership spotlights

These companies represent the biggest successes of UK biotech. By securing significant capital and hitting clinical milestones during a constrained year, these leaders have turned resilience into a measurable market advantage.

The Series A & B superstars

• Draig Therapeutics: Securing a landmark £104 million ($140 million) in a difficult market.  

Ruth McKernan, Co-Founder and Executive Chair, Draig Therapeutics

2025 was in general a more challenging year in which to raise money for a fledgling company. Nevertheless, Draig Therapeutics was able to generate investment of $140M. The success was due to an excellent team, led by Simon Ward and John Atack from the Cardiff University Medicines Discovery Institute; strong support in creating the company at Seed stage from the team at SV Health Investors; and the lead candidate already had clinical data, thanks to numerous academic grants from the MRC and the Wellcome Trust. This rare alignment attracted multiple potential investors and set the company on its way.

• T-Therapeutics: Demonstrating that world-class science attracts top-tier global capital, concluding a total £72 million ($91 million) Series A following a successful extension led by Theodora Harold, CEO.
• Elevara Therapeutics: Successfully scaling with a £55 million ($70 million) Series A.

Emma Tinsley, CEO, Elevara Therapeutics

This raise validates a clear and differentiated strategy: addressing a defined unmet need with a distinct mechanism, combined with a disciplined, data-led approach to clinical development. In today’s market, resilience comes from pairing strong science with structured execution and capital efficiency – and that’s exactly how we’re building Elevara.

• AAVantgarde Bio: £110 million ($141 million) Series B, for an Italian company with a London-based leadership team, reflecting the strength of the London talent pool. Led by Dr Natalia Misciattelli, CEO. This 'mega round', co-led by Schroders Capital, highlights the global appetite for UK-linked clinical excellence in gene therapy.

The Seed and Early-Stage pipeline

• TRIMTECH Therapeutics: Closing a £25.7 million ($31 million) seed financing – one of the largest ever globally for a biotech spin-out. Led by CEO Nicki Thompson, the company is leveraging decades of research from the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology and the University of Cambridge to pioneer novel protein degraders for neurodegenerative diseases.

Nicki Thompson, CEO, TRIMTECH Therapeutics

The outstanding quality of our investor syndicate is a great endorsement of TRIMTECH’s unique approach to targeting the selective removal of aggregated proteins that underpin so many CNS diseases. Since securing our funding, we have made rapid progress in our mission to treat patients in this underserved disease space.

• Alchemab Therapeutics: Continuing to lead in the translation of complex science with a £25 million ($32 million) Series A extension.

Jane Osbourn OBE, CEO and Co-Founder, Alchemab Therapeutics

Reaching the key milestone of our first drug candidate into the clinic is great validation of our AI-enabled next generation antibody platform. The additional investment will support the advancement of highly novel earlier programs towards the clinic.

• Cyclana Bio: Representing the healthy pipeline of female founders navigating the 'growth chasm' with a £5 million pre-seed raise.

Léa Wenger, CEO and Founder, Cyclana Bio

The BIA’s latest report is an important signal for investors and the broader life sciences sector. While the industry has made progress over the past decade, the data highlight a concerning slowdown in leadership diversity. As investors, we see first-hand how diverse perspectives strengthen decision-making, drive innovation, and ultimately lead to better business outcomes. Yet, systemic barriers continue to limit female representation at the highest levels. This is not just a question of equity—it’s a matter of economic and sectoral competitiveness.

If the UK is to retain its position as a global biotech leader, we must ensure that investment strategies actively support and incentivise diverse leadership teams.

I urge my peers in the investment community to recognise the opportunity here and take meaningful steps to back women-led ventures.

Challenges

The core structural challenges identified in our 2024 report remain, and we face additional headwinds.

Women are still not in the room

According to the 2025 PIR International Board Study, board diversity is showing signs of regression. While female CEO numbers have increased to 18.7%, female NED representation retreated to 9% within the UK’s private, pre-clinical biotech cohort. This drop from 21% the previous year suggests that the pipeline for future female Chairs is narrowing, particularly within the companies that represent the sector's future growth.

As highlighted in the 50/50 'Holding the Line' report, political and legal challenges to DEI in the US are increasingly becoming a UK boardroom topic. We are seeing a trend where equity initiatives are being scrutinised under the lens of perceived global risk.

Conclusion

One year on from our landmark data, the conclusion is clear: the need to measure and to report progress (or lack thereof) is more crucial than ever.

While 2025 has been characterised by a risk-averse investment climate and a global challenge to DEI initiatives, female-led biotechs have shown extraordinary resilience. However, success is currently driven by exceptional individual results rather than systemic change. To ensure the UK remains a global leader in life sciences, we must move beyond a few 'outliers' and ensure the wider pipeline of talent is supported.

Diversity is an important driver of world class innovation and the UK now has an opportunity to demonstrate that valuing and embracing diverse leadership will deliver company value, economic productivity and results for patients.

Over the past year, BIA has launched a series of successful initiatives to support women in biotech, and we will continue to work through our pillars of Collaborate & Support, Communicate and Advocate in order to drive measurable change.

We are also encouraged to see this momentum reflected across the ecosystem. The UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) is driving DEI by using this report as an investor benchmark, while the British Business Bank has strengthened its DEI initiative by embedding these frameworks into internal governance.

• Collaborate and support
• Communicate
• Advocate

Collaborate and support

We officially launched the She Steers programme in January 2026 (in partnership with Murray Edwards, AZ and Deloitte) to convene a strong board-ready cohort of female NEDs for the sector. Additionally, our mentoring scheme, now in its fourth year, is having significant impact on progression for women's careers in the sector. Our fourth cohort was launched in January 2026, incorporating 40 mentorship pairs and a C-suite group.

Communicate

In 2025, we reached over 1,000 attendees across our Women in Biotech events, including our first-ever WiB event in Edinburgh. This included C-suite dinners in Oxford and London, connecting over 50 senior leaders to foster high-level networking and knowledge exchange.

Advocate

We supported the Invest in Equity work to bridge the gap between female founders and the investment community, ensuring high-conviction science finds the capital it deserves.