Vice President of Hit Discovery, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZenecaa
Head of Peptide Discovery, Biopharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca
Associate Director, Biologics Engineering, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca
Millions of people live with diseases driven by complex biology that have been difficult to target by traditional therapeutic approaches. In fact, an estimated 85% of human protein targets are currently considered “undruggable” reflecting the challenge of targeting many drivers of disease.
Peptides, nature’s own signalling molecules, offer a promising way to engage these complex targets by combining the specificity of biologics with the tunability of small molecules. This is why peptides have become an increasingly important therapeutic modality within our toolkit. Through advances in automation, combined with high‑throughput screening, and data‑driven molecule design and optimisation, we are working to accelerate peptide discovery and development, enabling the rapid creation of new medicines across multiple disease areas.
Unlocking new possibilities to potentially ‘drug the undruggable’ with peptides
Peptides are short chains of amino acids that play fundamental roles in human biology. Shaped by evolution to engage proteins with high precision, peptides can be effective at modulating complex biological targets that have proven difficult to reach using traditional drug modalities.
This biological fit, combined with their chemical flexibility, makes peptides a highly versatile approach for treating disease. They can function as medicines in their own right or be engineered as delivery vehicles, directing other therapeutic modalities to specific cells and tissues in the body, such as targeted radiation or oligonucleotides. Together, these capabilities expand the range of disease targets we can reach, with the aim of creating new candidate medicines across a broad spectrum of diseases.
AI and automation are forging a path for peptide innovation
Our integrated way of working brings together the strengths of both biologics and small‑molecule discovery, allowing us to rapidly design, test, and refine peptide candidates using both experimental and AI‑driven approaches.
Generation
Using advanced technologies that let us create and quickly test large collections of peptides, we generate rich datasets that, when combined with AI analysis, allow us to quickly sort through trillions of options. This helps us pinpoint the most promising peptide candidates to find strong starting points for new medicines.
Optimisation
Because peptides are made from modular building blocks, we can fine‑tune their properties with a high degree of control. However, a key challenge is that peptides are often broken down or cleared by the body too quickly to have their full effect. By refining their sequences and incorporating more stable building blocks and structural features, we can now extend how long peptides remain active in the body, significantly strengthening their therapeutic potential.
We’ve also transformed the design of peptides from a slow, custom process into a fast, scalable platform. Through automation, pooled experiments, and iterative AI‑guided design, we are designing, building, and testing thousands of peptide variations within days, accelerating our ability to discover new medicines.
Developability
Advances in peptide design demand an equally rigorous focus on how we produce our candidate molecules consistently and at scale. Developability assesses how a peptide could behave in the body and whether it has the right properties to become a medicine. Within our AI-guided design cycles, we embed these criteria to prioritise peptides that are not only more likely to be effective, but also practical to make and store. This ensures we focus our efforts on candidates with the greatest potential to reach patients.
Our approach is augmented by cutting-edge technology
Delivering the next generation of peptide therapeutics
Our ambition is to deliver the next generation of peptide therapeutics to help address some of the biggest challenges and opportunities in the field, including reliable ways to achieve cell permeability and oral bioavailability. This will help enable the development of novel orally administered therapies for patient convenience where only injectable biologics are currently available and potentially unlock new opportunities to modulate intracellular targets that are cannot be accessed using conventional small molecules.
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