Medicinal Chemistry with Foundation Year Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)

Learn how pharmaceuticals interact with our bodies to develop drugs to combat disease. Our suite of Medicinal Chemistry combined honours programmes will provide you with a strong set of transferable skills, suited to a range of roles in the science, education and health sectors.

Why choose Medicinal Chemistry?


• Chemistry ranked No.1 in the UK with 96% of students expressing satisfaction with their course (NSS 2025, broad-based universities)*



• Use a wide variety of research grade chemistry experimental equipment in Keele's state-of-the-art Central Science Laboratories



• Professional accreditation pathway



• Authentic assessment methods replicate the type of tasks you would likely carry out during a career in chemistry



• Enhance your employability with our international year option



Medicinal Chemistry will provide you with an understanding of the complex biological and chemical problems that are involved in the design and synthesis of drugs. You will draw on basic chemical principles to solve problems at the interfaces of chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology and pharmacology and gain professional chemistry skills that are necessary for laboratory classes throughout the course.

Practical classes will take place in Keele’s state-of-the-art £34m Central Science Laboratories (CSL). You will have access to a dedicated synthetics laboratory plus computational and industry-standard equipment that are housed within a space designed to encourage and enable collaborative and interdisciplinary working. In the last five years we have invested around £5m in chemistry equipment and instrumentation. You will be trained how to use research level equipment from the first semester of your first year.

*We have compared the positivity ratings of all participating UK institutions using the NSS 2025 sector data to determine Keele's position relative to other broad-based universities (i.e. excluding specialist institutions and further education colleges).

About Keele
Keele University was established in 1949 by the former Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Founded to meet the needs of a changing world, Keele has always had a pioneering vision to be a different kind of university.

We excel in both teaching and research, with some of the most satisfied students in England, and research that is changing lives for the better at a regional, national and global level.

Our beautiful 600-acre campus is one of the biggest in Britain – but all the most important services and facilities are on your doorstep, with accommodation, teaching spaces, facilities including a medical centre, sports centre and pharmacy, and a range of shops, eateries and entertainment venues – including the Students’ Union – clustered around the centre.