Peptides, the most basic of building blocks in physiology, continue to grow in prominence among pharmaceutical manufacturers. With inherent abilities to block or enhance signal transfers in the human body, peptides, when harnessed as active pharmaceutical ingredients, can treat a host of metabolic diseases, cardiovascular and heart conditions, and neurodegenerative disorders.
Peptide-based drug targets are being identified at an increasingly rapid pace, both in terms of recently introduced therapies, and products in the development pipeline. In fact, a recent report by market and technology research firm Frost & Sullivan indicated that more than 40 approved peptide-based drugs are in use today, and approximately 400 are being developed to treat allergies, cancer, Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases (1).
Peptide-based therapies tap into the direct hardwiring of human physiology, yielding substantial and far-reaching benefits to drug treatments and therapies. Moreover, developments in peptide manufacturing and implementation have made these amino acid compounds more accessible to the market in terms of cost, flexibility and effectiveness. |