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Embargoed for release: Monday, August 23, 3:30 p.m., Eastern Time

After decades of dreaming the drug developer’s impossible dream, scientists finally are reporting progress in making drugs that target the “untouchablesâ€� among the body’s key players in health and disease. They are the hundreds of thousands of proteins that many scientists considered to be “undruggable,â€� meaning that previous efforts to develop a drug against them had failed. Scientists described advances toward these drugs today during a special symposium, “Drugging the Undruggable,â€� at the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Öйú365betÖÐÎĹÙÍø. The advances could lead to a new generation of medicines for treating cancer, diabetes, and other major diseases, they said.

In one advance, scientists today reported on a new family of potential drugs that are capable of blocking a key protein that’s involved in the development of cancer. Called “stapled peptides,� the substances get their name from chemical “braces� that hold the peptides, or protein fragments, in a compact shape that gives them high stability in comparison to their unfolded versions. Their report indicated that the stapled peptides prevented the growth of cancer cells in a group of test animals, a key advance toward the start of clinical trials in a group of cancer patients.

“Stapled peptides represent an entirely new class of potential drugs,� said study leader Gregory Verdine, Ph.D., who has been studying the molecules for the past decade and helped pioneer their development. “They herald a new era in the drug-discovery world.�

Science Inquiries: Michael Woods, Editor, 202-872-6293
General Inquiries: Michael Bernstein, 202-872-6042