2021 Molecules of the Year: Nominate!

The team reviews hundreds of compounds from thousands of papers, press releases, and other sources each month to select candidates for Molecules of the Month. Here we have compiled a table of >70 additional molecules that were of interest in January 2024 along with highlights from some of our favorites, including molecules targeting SOS1, NLRP3, SMARCA2, and more.

Gleevec (imatinib) was the first tyrosine kinase inhibitor approved for the treatment of cancer and one of the first products to emerge from "rational drug design."  It's invention changed chronic myeloid leukemia from an incurable death sentence to a manageable disease. Here's a look back on the tremendous value it's created over the last [...]

Momelotinib is a JAK inhibitor approved by the FDA in September 2023 for treating myelofibrosis. Last year, the molecule’s co-inventors, Andrew Wilks and Christopher Burns, gave a Drug Hunter Flash talk about the development of this drug with a fascinating mechanism of action.

In celebration of the molecule’s advancement, here we recap their brilliant story, including Wilks’ discovery of the JAK kinases and how he gave them their name, and the long, sometimes fraught journey of momelotinib through several companies before its acquisition and commercialization by GSK.

The "New Drugs on the Horizon" sessions at the AACR Annual Meeting 2024 in San Diego revealed twelve innovative oncology agents and offered attendees a first look at their structures and preliminary data as they enter/progress in the clinic. In case you missed any of these exciting compounds – including selective CDK inhibitors, molecular glues, bifunctional degraders, a radiopharmaceutical, a bifunctional antibody, and an ADC – this article covers the structures and targets disclosed. A separate session disclosed the structure of a pan-RAS isoform inhibitor with remarkable clinical results.

Peptidic GLP-1R agonists have received significant media coverage over the past year for their astounding efficacy in several indications. While most of the recent fanfare has been related to their role in weight loss, GLP-1R agonists have been a mainstay of the type 2 diabetes treatment landscape for the past 2 decades. GLP-1R agonists have also recently shown efficacy in reducing heart disease risk and treating certain chronic kidney diseases. Here’s a recap of the March 14th, 2024, Flash Talk, from Oliver Philps.