Cyclic peptide natural products chart the frontier of oral bioavailability in the pursuit of undruggable targets.

Cyclic peptide natural products chart the frontier of oral bioavailability in the pursuit of undruggable targets. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2017 May 29;38:141-147 Authors: Naylor MR, Bockus AT, Blanco MJ, Lokey RS Abstract As interest in protein-protein interactions and other previously-undruggable targets increases, medicinal chemists are returning to natural products for design inspiration toward molecules that transcend the paradigm of small molecule drugs. These compounds, especially peptides, often have poor ADME properties and thus require a more nuanced understanding of structure-property relationships to achieve desirable oral bioavailability. Although there have been few clinical successes in this chemical space to date, recent work has identified opportunities to introduce favorable physicochemical properties to peptidic macrocycles that maintain activity and oral bioavailability. PMID: 28570865 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Current Opinion in Chemical Biology - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Curr Opin Chem Biol Source Type: research