The DOI matches its Crossref record; 25 of the 25 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Trends in peptide drug discovery
Open accessAbstract
Since the introduction of insulin almost a century ago, more than 80 peptide drugs have reached the market for a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, HIV infection and chronic pain. In this Perspective, we summarize key trends in peptide drug discovery and development, covering the early efforts focused on human hormones, elegant medicinal chemistry and rational design strategies, peptide drugs derived from nature, and major breakthroughs in molecular biology and peptide chemistry that continue to advance the field. We emphasize lessons from earlier approaches that are still relevant today as well as emerging strategies such as integrated venomics and peptide-display libraries that create new avenues for peptide drug discovery. We also discuss the pharmaceutical landscape in which peptide drugs could be particularly valuable and analyse the challenges that need to be addressed for them to reach their full potential. Since the introduction of insulin almost a century ago, more than 80 peptide drugs have been approved for a wide range of diseases. This Perspective summarizes trends in peptide drug discovery, emphasizing lessons from earlier approaches as well as emerging strategies such as integrated venomics and peptide-display libraries. It also analyses the remaining challenges and the pharmaceutical landscape in which peptide drugs are particularly valuable.
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Cited by
Therapeutic Peptides: Current Applications and Future Directions
Wang, L., Wang, N., Zhang, W., Cheng, X., Yan, Z., Shao, G., Wang, X., Wang, R., & Fu, C. (2022) · Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · doi:10.1038/s41392-022-00904-4 · Cited by 2,131
Therapeutic strategies for COVID-19: progress and lessons learned
Li, G., Hilgenfeld, R., Whitley, R., & De Clercq, E. (2023) · Nature Reviews Drug Discovery · doi:10.1038/s41573-023-00672-y · Cited by 676
Advance in peptide-based drug development: delivery platforms, therapeutics and vaccines
Xiao, W., Jiang, W., Chen, Z., Huang, Y., Mao, J., Zheng, W., Hu, Y., & Shi, J. (2025) · Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy · doi:10.1038/s41392-024-02107-5 · Cited by 449
Chen, S., Lin, T., Basu, R., Ritchey, J., Wang, S., Luo, Y., Li, X., Pei, D., Kara, L. B., & Cheng, X. (2024) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45766-2 · Cited by 324
Huang, J., Xu, Y., Xue, Y., Huang, Y., Li, X., Chen, X., Xu, Y., Zhang, D., Zhang, P., Zhao, J., et al. (2023) · Nature Biomedical Engineering · doi:10.1038/s41551-022-00991-2 · Cited by 270
Metadata
- Authors
- Muttenthaler, M., King, G. F., Adams, D. J., & Alewood, P. F.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
- Published
- 2021-02-03
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 309-325
- ISSN
- 1474-1776 (ISSN-L)
- 1474-1784
- OpenAlex
- W3127297964
- Cited by
- 1,964
- References
- 25
- FWCI
- 26.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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