Researchers at the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research and RIKEN have disclosed tankyrase 1 (TNKS1; PARP5A) and/or TNKS2 (PARP5B) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, metabolic disease, cartilage injury, multiple sclerosis, pulmonary fibrosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, herpes simplex virus and Epstein Barr virus infections.