The Cancer Research UK Newcastle Drug Discovery Unit is embedded in the Cancer Research UK Newcastle Cancer Centre, incorporating a leading UK Oncology Phase I trials Unit headed by Professor Ruth Plummer. Drug Discovery is a key integral part of the Centre vision, alongside clinical pharmacology (pharmacokinetic and biomarker research) and the delivery of early phase clinical trials.

The Drug Discovery Unit benefits significantly from being embedded in an active clinical centre, which provides a range of insights from clinicians working directly with cancer patients and examining new therapies. Furthermore, the translational centre and associated Newcastle Cancer Biobank provides access to patient samples for experimental work and drug-positioning studies. Working in close proximity to the clinical pharmacology group also provides access to a range of technologies and approaches for biomarker development, such as the measurement of circulating free tumour DNA, the analysis of circulating tumour cells, or target protein quantification using automated immunohistochemistry and image analysis.