Company · Cambridge
Cambridge-headquartered AstraZeneca has pointed its quantum effort at drug discovery chemistry. With IonQ, AWS and NVIDIA it reported in June 2025 that a mixed quantum and GPU pipeline running on an IonQ Forte machine cut the simulation time for a Suzuki-Miyaura reaction, a step used in making small-molecule medicines, by a factor of more than 20. Since June 2023 it has been named among the drugmakers working with SandboxAQ's AQBioSim simulation unit. In the UK research system it is a listed partner of QCi3, the Oxford-led national quantum computing hub funded by EPSRC from December 2024.
AstraZeneca, based in Cambridge, is a company whose work covers quantum pharma, simulation and chemistry; it was founded in 1999. It appears as a partner in QCi3 and Q-BIOMED.
Sources: IonQ, AstraZeneca, AWS and NVIDIA quantum-accelerated drug development | Quantum Zeitgeist · AstraZeneca and Sanofi partner with SandboxAQ | Quantum Zeitgeist · GtR: QCi3 hub (EP/Z53318X/1) · Companies House: AstraZeneca PLC (02723534)
QCi3
The national research hub for quantum computing, led by the University of Oxford. It works on scalable and networked quantum computers.
Role: Partner
Funding: £21.9m
Themes: Computing, Networks, Software and algorithms
Q-BIOMED
A national research hub that develops quantum sensors for earlier diagnosis of disease. UCL and the University of Cambridge lead it.
Role: Partner
Funding: £24m
Themes: Sensing, Biomedical and health, Imaging
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Research, commercial and investment relationships, by year. Partners with a profile here are linked.
Multiply Labs Commercial 2026
SandboxAQ Commercial 2023
Chosen by shared specialisms, then location and type.
Company · Cambridge · 4 shared specialisms
Company · London · 2 shared specialisms
Investor · London · 2 shared specialisms
University · Oxford · 2 shared specialisms
Company data from Entangled Future. News from Quantum Zeitgeist. Last checked 2 October 2026.
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