Peptide News Digest

Elicio's KRAS Peptide Vaccine Full Data at ESMO, Semaglutide on Hemodialysis, CagriSema in Type 2 Diabetes Meta-Analysis

Elicio details its pancreatic cancer peptide vaccine at ESMO, semaglutide tracks with fewer deaths on dialysis, and lasso peptides get a delivery boost.

5 stories · Covering clinical-trials, research

Editor's Note

Tuesday's lead was a cancer vaccine built from peptides. Elicio presented full results of its AMPLIFY-7P trial of camupepimut in pancreatic cancer at ESMO and in Nature Medicine; the trial missed its main goal in June, and the new data show a hazard ratio of 0.85 overall but much larger effects in subgroups that the company itself labels nominal, so a Phase 3 design will depend on FDA talks. On the GLP-1 side, a U.S. Renal Data System analysis linked semaglutide to lower mortality than dulaglutide or liraglutide in people on hemodialysis, and a Bayesian meta-analysis of six CagriSema trials in type 2 diabetes found its edge over semaglutide alone was clearer for weight than for blood sugar. Two lab papers worked on peptides as antibiotics and drug leads: Princeton chemists attached a cell-penetrating peptide to the lasso peptides citrocin and microcin J25 to widen their reach to all four Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens, and a Liège team showed a mass spectrometry method for fishing receptor-binding toxins out of whole venom.

Clinical Trials

Elicio's KRAS Peptide Vaccine Camupepimut Missed Its Main Goal in Pancreatic Cancer but Showed Larger Effects in ctDNA-Negative Patients, Full AMPLIFY-7P Data Show

Elicio Therapeutics presented full results of the randomized Phase 2 AMPLIFY-7P trial at ESMO 2026 in Madrid on October 23, 2026, with a simultaneous Nature Medicine paper, for camupepimut (ELI-002 7P), a vaccine of seven lymph-node-targeted mutant KRAS peptides plus an adjuvant, in 144 patients with KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer after standard treatment. Disease-free survival, the primary endpoint, was not significantly better than observation overall (hazard ratio 0.85), as the company reported in June; in the 93 patients without circulating tumor DNA at baseline, median disease-free survival was not reached versus 21.2 months (hazard ratio 0.51, nominal p=0.028), and 99% of evaluable treated patients had KRAS-specific T-cell responses. Grade 3 or higher adverse events occurred in 10.4% versus 14.6% on observation; more ctDNA-positive patients were in the vaccine arm, and Elicio plans to discuss a Phase 3 design with the FDA.

#peptide-vaccine #cancer-vaccine #pancreatic-cancer #elicio-therapeutics
Research

Semaglutide Linked to 18% Lower Mortality Than Dulaglutide or Liraglutide in 3,913 Medicare Patients on Hemodialysis

Thomas Jefferson University researchers reported in Diabetes Care on October 27, 2026 a target-trial emulation using 2011-2022 U.S. Renal Data System and Medicare data on 1,312 semaglutide users and 2,601 dulaglutide or liraglutide users with diabetes on maintenance hemodialysis. After weighting, semaglutide was associated with lower risk of death on dialysis (subdistribution hazard ratio 0.82; one-year incidence 11% vs 13%) and all-cause hospitalization (0.91; 57% vs 62%), and more weight loss at one year (4.8% vs 3.4%). The advantage held against dulaglutide but was not statistically significant against liraglutide; the study is observational.

#semaglutide #liraglutide #kidney-disease #dialysis #real-world-evidence
Research

Bayesian Meta-Analysis of Six Trials: CagriSema's Edge Over Semaglutide Alone in Type 2 Diabetes Is Clear for Weight, Uncertain for HbA1c

Researchers at IMU University in Malaysia reported in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism on October 27, 2026 a Bayesian meta-analysis of six randomized trials of CagriSema (cagrilintide plus semaglutide) in type 2 diabetes, with 4,554 potentially eligible participants. Against placebo, CagriSema 2.4 mg lowered HbA1c by 1.87 percentage points and body weight by 12.69 percentage points more; against semaglutide 2.4 mg, the extra HbA1c drop was small and uncertain (0.21 points, credible interval crossing zero) while extra weight loss was probable (5.84 points). Stomach side effects and stopping for side effects were higher than with placebo; CagriSema is not approved.

#cagrisema #semaglutide #type-2-diabetes
Research

Princeton Chemists Attach a Cell-Penetrating Peptide to Lasso Peptide Antibiotics, Extending Them to All Four Gram-Negative ESKAPE Pathogens

Princeton University chemists reported in ACS Chemical Biology on October 27, 2026 that conjugating a cell-penetrating peptide to the loop of the lasso peptides citrocin and microcin J25, which kill bacteria by blocking RNA polymerase but depend on specific transporters to get inside, gave them activity against all four Gram-negative ESKAPE pathogens. The conjugates were more potent than the parent peptides, with minimum inhibitory concentrations from high nanomolar to single micromolar, and entered E. coli through both transporter-dependent and transporter-independent routes, which the authors say could limit one path to resistance. The work is in bacterial cultures.

#antimicrobial-peptides #lasso-peptides #cell-penetrating-peptides #antibiotic-resistance
Research

University of Liège Method Uses Cell Membranes and Mass Spectrometry to Pull Receptor-Binding Toxins Out of Whole Venom

Researchers at the University of Liège and Alphabiotoxine Laboratory in Belgium reported in Frontiers in Chemistry on October 27, 2026 a workflow that captures venom peptides on native membrane preparations carrying a target receptor, then identifies them by MALDI-TOF and LC-MS/MS. Tested on the human vasopressin V2 receptor and the muscle-type nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, it recovered known ligands, including endogenous peptides and disulfide-rich venom toxins, and flagged additional toxins preferentially bound by nicotinic receptor-rich Torpedo membranes for follow-up. The authors say the method can be adapted to other membrane receptors and peptide libraries.

#venom-peptides #peptide-discovery

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