Session Speaker

Therapeutic Peptides: Opportunities and Challenges
Waleed Danho
USA

As one of four therapeutic modalities to address unmet medical needs and mitigate risk in development, the market for peptide drugs is growing nearly twice as fast as that for all other types of pharmaceuticals. This growth is largely driven by an increased number of therapeutic targets. The market size for peptide drugs in 2008 is estimated at US$ 3.3 billion, with a projected growth rate of >10 % per year. Currently, there are 33 therapeutic peptides on the market; 29 in Phase III; 83 in Phase II; 66 in Phase I; over 400 peptides are also reported to be in advanced pre-clinical stages of research for oncologic, infectious, metabolic, cardiovascular, and inflammatory disease indications. In the past decade, great progress has been made in the synthesis (large scale), selectivity, and duration of action (achieved through lipidation, PEGylation, albumin and antibodty conjugation/ complexation). Delivery, however, remains the main challenge for further development of this therapeutic modality. Progress has been made in parenteral delivery of peptides with a broad range of technologies available for the desired release profile. Each non-parenteral delivery system (i.e., oral , nasal, pulmonary, buccal and transdermal) has specific advantages and disadvantages, but advances in each of these techniques are coming about rapidly. These points and the overall progress in the therapeutic peptide field will be addressed in this presentation.