The Latest News in the Peptide World

The first quarter of 2025 is already over, and we’re looking forward to what the rest of the year holds. We’re sharing some research we found interesting as well as news in the peptide industry. With so many exciting developments, it is impossible to absorb it all, but this is an excellent problem to have! We are in a thriving space and are glad to be seeing more positive news than we can fully take in. Here's a quick rundown of what caught our eye.

Oral Peptide Therapeutics

Johnson and Johnson’s oral IL-23R blocker, Icotrokinra, performed well in Phase III trials for plaque psoriasis while showing improved efficacy over similar therapies.

The same IL-23R blocker showed efficacy in Phase 2b trials for ulcerative colitis. The therapeutic benefit of a once-daily oral pill could be transformative for patients.

Obesity

Abbvie enters the weight-loss drug space, partnering with Danish Gubra to develop their amylin mimic; noteworthy, amylin targets different receptors than current popular weightloss drugs.

Amgen is running late-stage trials for their monthly injectable, MariTide, hoping for an edge over weekly injectables.

Viking Therapeutics partnered with Corden Pharma to manufacture oral and injectible versions of their GLP1-agonist. Currently the oral formulation is in Phase 2b trials.

Researchers at Stanford discovered a naturally occurring 12-mer that mimics GLP-1 but without the potential side effects.

Cancer

Oregon State University researchers developed magnetic nanoparticles whose shape makes them more effective for targeting specific cancers. The nanoparticles are targeted to cancerous tissues using peptides; with the specificity of a peptide and high efficiency of this novel shape, greater therapeutic effects can be achieved at lower doses.

At the University of Bath, researchers have developed a peptide that irreversibly binds to a transcription factor, cJun, that promotes cancer cell growth. Their peptide prevents TF-DNA interaction by covalently binding the TF.

Anixa Bioscience teamed up with Verdi Solutions to use artificial intelligence to produce personalized peptide vaccines for cancer patients. Verdi has had promising early results using their platform to sequence tumors for generating vaccine targets.

Together with RayzeBio, PeptiDream is currently running a Phase 1/1b trial of its macrocyclic peptide-radioisotpe conjugates, RYZ801 and RYZ811, against Glypican-3, a protein that is highly expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Drug Delivery & Targeting

The FDA's 2024 approval of 50 novel drugs, including four peptides and oligonucleotides (TIDEs), underscores the growing significance of these therapies in treating complex diseases.

PepGen shared data at the 2025 Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Clinical & Scientific Conference from ongoing clinical trials using their Enhanced Delivery Oligonucleotide (EDO) platform of peptide-conjugated oligos. Their candidates, CONNECT1-EDO51 and FREEDOM-DM1, target Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1), respectively.

NIH scientists developed a peptide delivered via drop to reduce the rate of photoreceptor degeneration in retinal diseases.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have developed peptide-guided lipid nanoparticles that improve mRNA delivery to both brain blood vessels and neurons. This innovation could significantly advance targeted drug delivery to neurons and facilitate the transport of therapeutics across the blood-brain barrier.

At Duke, a group is targeting previously undruggable diseases using AI to help identify peptide sequences that show specificity for disordered disease causing proteins.

Antimicrobial Peptides

A paper in Science describes how one research group developed a novel AI pipeline that combines a diffusion model and molecular dynamics for developing antimicrobial peptides. In lab testing, their peptides were more diverse than those produced by existing methods, and had strong antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Researchers used an antimicrobial peptide found in frogs as a starting point to design a novel antimicrobial peptide that targets Gram-negative bacteria; their peptide was selective and had fewer off target effects than other antibiotics.

Peptide Synthesis and Manufacturing

CordenPharma is expanding their peptide manufacturing capabilities across the US and Europe; their strategy will enable Corden to utilize existing infrastructure and optimize logistics that are already in place in these hubs, as well as allowing them to tap into existing talent pools.

Bachem is increasing its active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) production capacity through expansions at existing facilities and the construction of new sites in both Europe and the United States.

At The University of KwaZulu-Natal, researchers proposed a novel method for real-time monitoring of resin loading in solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS) using refractometry, addressing the limitations of the traditional UV spectrophotometric method. This technique offers the potential to improve efficiency and reduce costs by enabling precise control over resin loading and minimizing the use of excess reagents.

A survey of industry practices revealed significant variation in analytical techniques and impurity thresholds used throughout peptide development, prompting the IQ Consortium to propose recommendations for better aligning these control strategies.

The IQ Consortium 10 proposed that larger peptide fragments can be considered regulatory starting materials (RSMs) in the context of drug manufacturing while still aligning with ICH Q11 guidelines.