Peptide gels that act like depots
Peptide drugs fail for a boring reason: delivery. Self-assembling peptide hydrogels try to fix that by turning peptides into local depots that hold and release medicine over time.
Tag
Drug delivery
Peptides often fail for a boring reason: delivery. This tag tracks delivery ideas like depots, conjugates, and designs that change where a peptide goes and how long it lasts.
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The Cell Membrane Was Supposed to Be a Wall. Peptides May Be Making Temporary Doors.
A new PNAS study gives cell-penetrating peptides a more physical explanation: they may cross membranes by opening submillisecond pores, turning one of drug delivery's strangest tricks into something medicine can start to measure.
The Next Peptide Antibiotic Problem Is Not Killing Germs. It Is Sparing Us.
New work on antimicrobial peptides points to a less glamorous but more decisive challenge: many peptides can punch holes in microbes, but the future belongs to systems that can predict, package, or localize that violence before it reaches human cells.
Peptide-drug conjugates are trying to turn cancer receptors into delivery doors
A cluster of new preclinical peptide-drug conjugate studies points to a subtle shift in oncology: using familiar cancer receptors less as signaling switches and more as delivery portals for toxic payloads.
Some peptide drugs need rhythm, not just longer release
A preclinical teriparatide delivery study shows why the next long-acting peptide problem may be timing: some medicines work because the body sees pulses, not a constant drip.
A virus-mimicking peptide that pushes mRNA beyond the liver
Researchers describe an enveloped virus-mimicking particle built from a simplified peptide plus tuned lipids, aiming for repeatable mRNA delivery to extrahepatic tissues like lung and spleen.
Donkey-milk exosomes for oral octreotide
A new mouse study tests an exosome-based ‘biomimetic’ delivery idea for oral octreotide, hinting at a path beyond permeability enhancers but leaving big manufacturing and translation questions.
AMG 133 and the antibody-peptide obesity strategy
Researchers describe AMG 133, an antibody-peptide conjugate designed to combine GIP receptor antagonism with GLP-1 receptor agonism. It’s a design story about longer-acting multi-target biology, not a new approved therapy.
A peptide gel to help bladder cancer immunotherapy
A mouse study reports an enzyme-responsive peptide that forms a bladder-local hydrogel depot to retain BCG longer, aiming to reduce washout and improve immune activation in non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.
A new AI model for finding BBB-crossing peptides
A 2026 Advanced Science paper introduces INB3P, a machine-learning framework built for small peptide datasets. It predicts blood-brain barrier-penetrating motifs and offers interpretability tools, but still needs prospective validation.
A new trick for peptides to enter cells
Researchers report benzaldehyde-tagged cell-penetrating peptides can anchor to membrane proteins via reversible imine chemistry, helping cargo escape endosomes and reach the cytosol.