Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Drug discovery is the process through which potential new medicines are identified. It involves a wide range of scientific disciplines, including biology, chemistry and pharmacology.
We developed a rational approach to design peptide-based covalent inhibitors and coupled the inhibitors with antibodies for cell-specific delivery. We used this platform to generate antibody–peptide inhibitor conjugates (APICs) that target a family of proteases, the cysteine cathepsins. Our drug design and targeted delivery approach ensure specific inhibition and achieve therapeutic efficacy in different cancer cells and osteoclasts.
A two-in-one drug that modulates neural pathways involved in appetite and reward might prove to be more effective and longer lasting than current weight-loss drugs on the market.
MISATO, a dataset for structure-based drug discovery combines quantum mechanics property data and molecular dynamics simulations on ~20,000 protein–ligand structures, substantially extends the amount of data available to the community and holds potential for advancing work in drug discovery.
The bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) blinatumomab showed promising clinical efficacy in a pilot study of six patients with multidrug-resistant rheumatoid arthritis.
Anti-obesity medications based on incretin hormones have advanced weight control and metabolic health in individuals with obesity. The long-term success of obesity therapeutics could be facilitated by exercise, a vital metabolic ally in enhancing treatment efficacy.
New insights into active versus passive nanoparticle tumour entry and exit mechanisms are enriching the understanding of tumour-targeted drug delivery. Here we align the principles of enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) and active transport and retention (ATR), and outline how their mechanistic features can be employed to improve the performance and clinical impact of cancer nanomedicines.