Nexthera Co. Ltd. has submitted an IND application to the FDA seeking to conduct a phase I/IIa trial with NT-101, a noninvasive eye drop treatment for wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Valanx Biotech GmbH has reported promising in vivo results for its lead program, VLX-101, for the treatment of a wide range of autoimmune diseases.

Intravitreal VEGF inhibitors are the first-line treatment for vascular retinopathies, but they are invasive, painful and require frequent treatments.

Researchers from Peptidream Inc. presented preclinical characterization of novel carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX)-targeting radiopeptides, [64Cu]PD-32766 and [177Lu]PD-32766, being developed for the diagnosis and treatment of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), respectively.

Guard Therapeutics AB has presented progress within the company’s preclinical development platform, the GTX platform, aimed at developing new peptides based on the endogenous protein α-1-microglobulin.

Several highly pathogenic viruses, including SARS-CoV-2, share a conserved mechanism of infection via the fusion of the viral and host membranes employing a six-helix bundle (6-HB) heptad repeat.

Using interactions between viral peptides and human proteins as a starting point, researchers from Enyo Pharma Inc., the University of Lyon and other institutions were able to bootstrap themselves to a mitochondria-targeting small molecule that showed activity in a mouse model of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) with chronic kidney disease.

Sanyou Biopharmaceuticals (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has launched its Sanyou Super Trillion Peptide Molecule Discovery Platform, suitable for the R&D of peptide-based drugs targeting diseases associated with metabolism and tumors, as well as applications in medical imaging, molecular diagnostics and other fields.

The field of peptides is exploding, Perpetual Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Kerry L. Blanchard recently told BioWorld, “with a projected growth rate far surpassing large and small molecules, and gene therapies. The area is underinvested, too, so this is a good opportunity to focus on peptide therapeutics.” Blanchard, who was most recently CEO of Shanghai-based Everest Medicines Ltd. and previous chief scientific officer (CSO) of China’s Innovent Biologics Co. Ltd., is now spearheading efforts to develop novel peptide therapeutics at his own biotech, Perpetual, founded in March 2023.