DEL and Display Technologies Empower Discovery of Peptide Drugs

In recent years, peptide-based therapeutics have emerged as a significant class of drugs in the pharmaceutical landscape, offering numerous advantages, including high specificity, potent activity, and relatively low toxicity. These attributes make peptides highly attractive molecules for targeting complex diseases, including cancer, metabolic disorders, and autoimmune conditions.

At DDC 2026, WuXi Biology presented a poster showcasing how our integrated peptide platform offers customized solutions, from de novo screening using DNA-encoded libraries (DEL), phage display, and mRNA display, to optimization supported by expertise in peptide-specific CADD, medicinal chemistry, and assay capabilities.

The authors show how our newly designed libraries and cyclization strategies enable flexible options for peptide hit discovery and library customization, while highlighting that peptide DEL and mRNA display can exhibit synergy, both in peptide discovery to achieve high success rates and in hit-to-lead optimization to improve physicochemical properties.