Up to now, cancer and aids are the scourge of mankind and known to be the most intractable disease targets - as yet. The pharma giant Roche recently announced the partnership with Aileron for developing a new drug technology called stapled peptides.

Stapled peptide

The synthetic peptides have been described as a type of magic bullet that can deliver particularly potent doses of drugs at the cellular level. They are stabilized in a helical shape with the achievement of efficient cell penetration, improved pharmacokinetics, high-affinity binding to large target protein surfaces and excellent stability within the body. Furthermore the stapled peptides are a potential solution to drug targets orginating from long sought-after intracellular protein-protein interactions.

“One of the challenges the industry is facing is not to identify new targets, but to be able to reach the target that we would like to reach with the right therapeutic benefit, particularly inside the cell” Dr. Jean-Jacques Garaud, Roche’s global head of pharmaceutical research and early development.

I’m confident that peptide molecular medicine holds great potential, is a hot domain and therefore worth tracking. The first clinical trials are expected to start next year, however still years away from proving it will work on patients - and hence the availability for the general public.

Yours truly,

Tobias Steffenhagen

Product Manager & Lead Engineer

Zea Lab Collaboration, Zea Lab Logistics