# Intro — The Programmable Middle Layer
- Trends in peptide drug discovery (Muttenthaler et al., 2021) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-020-00135-8
- Therapeutic peptides: current applications and future directions (Wang et al., 2022) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-022-00904-4
- Advance in peptide-based drug development: delivery platforms, therapeutics and vaccines (Xiao et al., 2025) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-024-02107-5
# From Hormone Analogues to a Modality
- The Current State of Peptide Drug Discovery: Back to the Future? (Henninot, Collins, Nuss, 2018) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28737935/
- Discovery, characterization, and clinical development of the glucagon-like peptides (Drucker et al., 2017) - https://www.jci.org/articles/view/97233
- How Biologics Have Changed the Drug Discovery Landscape (McGonigle, 2025) - https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-pharmtox-061724-080811
# Paying Down the Peptide Tax
- Advances in oral peptide therapeutics (Drucker, 2020) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-019-0053-0
- Derivatization with fatty acids in peptide and protein drug discovery (Kurtzhals, Østergaard, Nishimura, Kjeldsen, 2023) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-022-00529-w
# When Peptides Win — A Three-Axis Framework
- Back to therapeutic modality basics (Mullard, 2025) - https://www.nature.com/articles/d41573-025-00072-4
- Constrained peptides' time to shine? (Morrison, 2018) - https://www.nature.com/articles/nrd.2018.125
- Frameworks for transformational breakthroughs in RNA-based medicines (Androsavich, 2024) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-024-00943-2
- Advances in oligonucleotide drug delivery (Roberts, Langer, Wood, 2020) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41573-020-0075-7
- Landscape of small nucleic acid therapeutics: moving from the bench to the clinic as next-generation medicines (Wang et al., 2025) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41392-024-02112-8
# The GLP-1 Proof
- Redefining peptide therapeutics with semaglutide (Kruse & Østergaard, 2024) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-023-01434-4
- The expanding landscape of GLP-1 medicines (Drucker, 2026) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-04124-5
- Advances in incretin-based drug discovery in 2025 (Müller, 2025) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41574-025-01219-4
- Another GLP-1 Year (Derek Lowe, In the Pipeline, 2025) - https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/another-glp-1-year
- The GLP-1 Saga Continues, And How (Derek Lowe, In the Pipeline) - https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/glp-1-saga-continues-and-how
# Expanding the Target Surface — Cyclic Peptides and Conjugates
- Cyclic Peptides for Drug Development (Ji, Nielsen, Heinis, 2024) - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/anie.202308251
- The coming of age of cyclic peptide drugs: an update on discovery technologies (You et al., 2024) - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17460441.2024.2367024
- Accurate de novo design of high-affinity protein-binding macrocycles using deep learning (Rettie et al., 2025) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-025-01929-w
- Peptide-Drug Conjugates: A New Hope for Cancer (Armstrong et al., 2025) - https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/psc.70040
# Manufacturing is the Other Bottleneck
- Enzymatic synthesis of peptide therapeutics (Nature Chemical Biology, 2024) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41589-024-01658-6
- Amino acid composition drives aggregation during peptide synthesis (Nature Chemistry, 2026) - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-026-02090-0
# The Orforglipron Tension
- FDA approves first new molecular entity under National Priority Voucher program — Foundayo (orforglipron), Apr 1, 2026 - https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-new-molecular-entity-under-national-priority-voucher-program
- Proteins as Oral Drugs: Possible, But Not Probable (Derek Lowe, In the Pipeline) - https://www.science.org/content/blog-post/proteins-oral-drugs-possible-not-probable