5 stories
Peptide discovery covers the platforms and methods used to find new peptide drug candidates — phage display, mRNA display, biocatalysis, AI-driven design, and academic combinatorial chemistry.
Key threads on this site: AI-discovered peptides moving toward IND from Profluent, MeddenoVo, Mexa-AI, and Generate Biomedicines; biocatalysis using peptide asparaginyl ligase (PAL) for scalable cyclization; HMD-AMP transformer-based AMP discovery from HLB Innovation in Nature Biomedical Engineering; and AACR 2026 abstracts on de novo cyclic-peptide design for undruggable targets. The University of Utah PapB radical-SAM thioether cyclization paper opened a new chemistry route for GLP-1-like cyclic peptides.
Stories here cover platform launches, validation papers, and partnership deals. See #drug-discovery and #ai-drug-discovery for adjacent threads.
On June 4, 2026, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced a partnership worth up to $2 billion with Inceptive, the AI biotech focused on programmable RNA and peptide medicines, to apply machine learning to peptide discovery. The deal is the second major back-loaded peptide-AI collaboration to land in the same week, following Regeneron's expanded Parabilis tie-up tied to Phase 3 LAG-3 setbacks.
A venom-peptide discovery system published in Pharmaceuticals (MDPI) in 2026 paired phage display with a machine-learning model that predicts mutation-tolerant residues, building a library from roughly 482 venom-derived scaffolds. Screened against CD47, DLL3, IL33, and P2X7R, the resulting VCX library yielded strong binders for all four targets. Venom peptides are stabilized by multiple disulfide bonds and naturally evolved to hit GPCRs and ion channels, giving them structural stability that conventional peptides often lack.
Fifty 1 Labs (OTC:FITY) announced the expansion of its peptide discovery and clinical research strategy targeting musculoskeletal health, recovery, and performance. The company is building a proprietary peptide discovery engine focused on MSK biology, combining AI-enabled design with staged clinical development for muscle, tendon, ligament, and bone conditions — an area largely overlooked by the GLP-1 dominated peptide pipeline.
Stanford scientists used AI to identify BRP, a naturally occurring peptide that acts directly on the hypothalamus to suppress appetite — avoiding the gut-related side effects of current GLP-1 drugs. In animal studies, BRP reduced body weight and fat without nausea, constipation, or muscle loss. Published in Nature, with human trials planned.
Zealand Pharma announced a new Cambridge research hub combining 25+ years of peptide expertise with AI-driven drug discovery, expanding its obesity and metabolic health pipeline.