1, Medical field
(1) Metabolic disease treatment
Among the listed polypeptide drugs, the top three areas include diabetes. In 2022, artificial insulin and non insulin hypoglycemic drugs are the top ten polypeptide drugs in the global sales, and the top eight drugs are diabetes or obesity drugs. For example, smeglutide's sales volume will reach 10.914 billion dollars in 2022. The global market size of insulin related peptide drugs reached $27.2 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow to $40.2 billion by 2030; The non insulin market is expected to grow from 35.7 billion US dollars in 2020 to 101.7 billion US dollars in 2030, indicating that peptide raw materials have a wide range of applications and huge market potential in the treatment of metabolic diseases.
(2) Tumor disease treatment
Peptides have attracted much attention in the field of tumor diagnosis and treatment. Due to their small size, high affinity, easy modification, and low immunogenicity, tumor targeting peptides have higher tumor/tissue permeability compared to antibodies, and can be used for imaging, cancer diagnosis, and targeted drug delivery. Peptide conjugated drugs (PDCs) are expected to become the next generation of targeted anti-tumor drugs, following small molecule targeted drugs, monoclonal antibodies, and ADCs. At present, mifepristone and carfilzomib have been approved for the treatment of osteosarcoma and multiple myeloma, respectively. Two types of PDCs (Melflufen and Lu dotatate) have been approved by the FDA, with Melflufen combined with dexamethasone approved for the treatment of severe recurrent or refractory multiple myeloma (R/RMM) patients (although withdrawn due to safety concerns). 177Lu dotatate was approved for the treatment of gastrointestinal pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs) in 2018. Among the marketed peptide drugs, the tumor field accounts for 30%, indicating its importance in the treatment of tumor diseases.
(3) Treatment for other diseases
Peptide drugs are suitable for various diseases, including cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, infectious diseases, immune system diseases, gastrointestinal diseases (accounting for 14% of the marketed peptide drugs), orthopedic diseases, obstetric diseases, etc. They can also be used for rare diseases that lack treatment methods. It can also be applied to the treatment of chronic diseases such as inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders, indicating that peptide raw materials are involved in many disease treatment fields.
2, Drug carrier field
Peptides, as drug carriers, can not only serve as modifiers for drug carriers, but also as the main components of drug carriers. For example, Law et al. designed peptide segments connected to protease cleavage sites. After assembly in a suitable solvent, the drug is encapsulated in microspheres. When it encounters a targeted protease, the cleavage site is cleaved, achieving targeted release of the drug. Peng Shiqi et al. used arginine glycine aspartic acid serine serine (RGDS) tetrapeptide modified liposomes as drug carriers for directed thrombolysis. The carrier and drug are connected in the form of acid sensitive covalent bonds, which can be biodegraded into endogenous substance Glu in nature or in the human body, and are not prone to accumulation and toxic side effects.
3, Nutritional food field
As a new type of health food or food additive, active peptide foods have unique characteristics and functions, and have many advantages in nutrition. They have broad application prospects in the food industry, which indirectly indicates that peptide raw materials have potential application value in the field of nutritional food.
4, Cosmetics field
Peptides with different numbers of amino acid residues have different effects in cosmetics. For example, tripeptides are growth factors, tetrapeptides have anti-inflammatory effects, pentapeptides can promote collagen and increase skin thickness, hexapeptides are a type of botulinum toxin that can relax wrinkles, and nonapeptides can block melanin and have whitening effects. At present, the peptides used in cosmetics are mainly peptides with up to six amino acid residues, so peptide raw materials also have applications in the cosmetics field.