Recent Trends in Peptide Drug Discovery and Development

The commercial success of peptide drugs, coupled with advances in peptide drug discovery and delivery technologies, medicinal chemistry strategies, and large-scale manufacturing, continues to drive peptide drug development, with peptide drugs accounting for ∼6% (US$ 90 billion) of the total global drug market revenue. Peptide drugs for metabolic disorders dominate the market, with insulin analogues and glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists accounting for $46 and $24 billion in revenue, respectively, in 2023. This chapter provides an overview of the current peptide drug landscape, covers recently approved peptide drug classes, and discusses the latest trends in peptide drug development. Recent drug approvals are discussed in more detail and include peptide drugs derived from peptide hormones, natural products, and display technologies for diseases such as diabetes, obesity, achondroplastic dwarfism, and myasthenia gravis. The chapter further spotlights medicinal chemistry strategies instrumental in progressing these drugs to the clinic. The continuously evolving landscape of peptide drug development, driven by innovative discoveries and strategic medicinal chemistry approaches, underscores the essential place that peptide drugs hold within the global pharmaceutical market.