Diabetes, Insulin and GLP-1 Analogues

peptide medicinal chemistry
Photo: University of Copenhagen

These two examples show how medicinal chemists in the biopharmaceutical industry have developed new peptide-based drugs by focusing on the structural chemistry of peptides and proteins.

Type-I diabetes

Until the beginning of the 20th century, diabetes was often a diagnostic death sentence. In 1921 insulin was isolated for the first time and shortly afterwards introduced in a form suitable for treatment of people with diabetes.

Although originally isolated from animals, from about 1980 insulin was produced by genetic expression. Since then medicinal chemists at Novo Nordisk A/S and at other biopharmaceutical companies have modified the insulin molecule and thus adjusted the solubility of the molecule and its ability to make complexes with other molecules.

This development has led to the development of insulin variants with different duration of effect, making it easier for people with type 1diabetes to achieve a stable blood glucose level and enjoy better treatment.

Type-II diabetes

Another peptide-based medicine is derived from the intestinal hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, GLP-1. With a very short half-life in plasma, GLP-1 is unsuitable as a drug.

However, by chemically modifying GLP-1, medicinal chemists at Novo Nordisk A/S have been able to prolong its life in plasma to 11-15 hours. Their result is the drug Victoza (liraglutide), used to treat type-2 diabetes.