Current drugs can be divided into small molecule drugs and large molecule drugs according to their molecular weight. Small molecule drugs, known as chemical drugs, can be synthesized by chemical technology. The advantages of chemical drugs include low cost, high stability, easy production, etc. Therefore, the development of small molecule drugs was the mainstream in the past. More than 90% of current on-the-market drugs are small molecules a.
Traditional chemical drugs behave as rapid and indiscriminate killers. They are unable to perform treatment for specific groups of people. Although it is easy to develop and manufacture, the drugs or metabolites entry into the body may cause serious side effects or unpredictable toxicological reactions, such as weakened immune system, nausea, vomiting and hair loss. In addition, due to long-term drug resistance, it will gradually lead to poor curing effect b. Discovering new drugs is urgently needed for current clinical medication.
With the rapid development in biology and biotechnology in recent years, the concept of precision medicine has been gradually rising. Small molecule drugs made by chemical synthesis are the mainstream in the past, but it has gradually shifted to protein drugs made by biopharmaceutical technology. Protein therapeutics have several advantages over small-molecule drugs. As proteins have the most dynamic and diverse role of any macromolecule in the body, catalyzing biochemical reactions, forming receptors and channels in membranes, providing intracellular and extracellular scaffolding support, and transporting molecules within a cell or from one organ to another, they can follow the normal physiological operation mechanism to treat specific groups of people and cause fewer side effects. According to statistics, eight of the top 10 prescription drugs are biologics recently. It shows that he development of protein drugs has become the current mainstream c.
Traditional chemical drugs behave as rapid and indiscriminate killers. They are unable to perform treatment for specific groups of people. Although it is easy to develop and manufacture, the drugs or metabolites entry into the body may cause serious side effects or unpredictable toxicological reactions, such as weakened immune system, nausea, vomiting and hair loss. In addition, due to long-term drug resistance, it will gradually lead to poor curing effect b. Discovering new drugs is urgently needed for current clinical medication.
With the rapid development in biology and biotechnology in recent years, the concept of precision medicine has been gradually rising. Small molecule drugs made by chemical synthesis are the mainstream in the past, but it has gradually shifted to protein drugs made by biopharmaceutical technology. Protein therapeutics have several advantages over small-molecule drugs. As proteins have the most dynamic and diverse role of any macromolecule in the body, catalyzing biochemical reactions, forming receptors and channels in membranes, providing intracellular and extracellular scaffolding support, and transporting molecules within a cell or from one organ to another, they can follow the normal physiological operation mechanism to treat specific groups of people and cause fewer side effects. According to statistics, eight of the top 10 prescription drugs are biologics recently. It shows that he development of protein drugs has become the current mainstream c.
- Medicine in Drug Discovery. 2020 Nov; 9:100075
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