BioCentury
ARTICLE | Product Development

Excited about cycling

Maturing macrocycle chemistry drives explosion of biotech newcos, biopharma deals

September 17, 2012 7:00 AM UTC

New synthesis and screening technologies and the allure of access to previously undruggable targets are driving an explosion of new company formation and deal-making around macrocycles and constrained peptides.

While it remains to be seen whether the in vitro promise of these platforms will translate into viable drug candidates, the clinical successes of macrocyclic natural products provide tantalizing hints of what could be achieved by the systematic exploration of this compound class...