Category · 50 entries
Immune & Anti-Inflammatory
Thymic, inflammatory, and immune-modulating peptides.
Albuvirtide
China's long-acting HIV fusion inhibitor: a peptide in the enfuvirtide tradition, given by infusion and licensed only in China.
Alpha-MSH
The endogenous anti-inflammatory melanocortin — the 13-amino-acid POMC fragment that PT-141, melanotan, setmelanotide, and the entire melanocortin drug class are built on.
Anidulafungin
The echinocandin that beat fluconazole for invasive candidiasis in a head-to-head trial, and the one that degrades on its own in blood rather than relying on the liver.
Bacitracin
The topical first-aid antibiotic — one of the most widely used over-the-counter peptide antibiotics, found in virtually every household first-aid kit.
Bulevirtide
A peptide that blocks the receptor hepatitis B and D viruses use to enter liver cells, injected once a day. FDA-approved as Hepcludex on May 22, 2026; in the phase 3 MYR301 trial, 45% to 48% of treated patients met the combined response goal at 48 weeks against 2% untreated.
Capreomycin
An injectable cyclic peptide that was a mainstay of drug-resistant tuberculosis treatment for decades, until large data showed regimens using it did worse.
Caspofungin
The first echinocandin: a cyclic lipopeptide that attacks the fungal cell wall, an enzyme human cells do not have. A daily intravenous mainstay for serious Candida infections since 2001.
Cathelicidin
hCAP18, the precursor the body cuts to release LL-37: switched on by vitamin D, measured in blood and urine, never given as a treatment.
Cecropin
The insect immune system's first-line antibiotic — among the earliest AMPs discovered, proving innate immunity uses peptide weapons across the animal kingdom.
Colistin
Polymyxin B's sibling — a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic revived from the 1950s as the ultimate weapon against pan-drug-resistant gram-negative bacteria, despite significant nephrotoxicity.
Cyclosporine
The fungal cyclic peptide that made modern organ transplantation work. It is still used for transplants, severe autoimmune disease and, as eye drops, dry eye.
Dalbavancin
An antibiotic that lasts so long one infusion can treat a skin infection. Its effective half-life is about 8.5 days, which is why a course can be a single dose.
Daptomycin
A last-resort lipopeptide antibiotic — the first-in-class cyclic peptide that kills MRSA and VRE by depolarizing bacterial membranes, without resistance through traditional mechanisms.
Dermcidin
The antibiotic peptide in human sweat, found at lower levels in eczema and acne, and never given to anyone as a treatment.
Dirucotide
An attempt to retrain the immune system in multiple sclerosis by flooding it with a myelin fragment: a phase 2 subgroup looked promising, phase 3 did not.
Dusquetide
A five-amino-acid peptide that tunes the innate immune system through p62: halved severe mouth sores in phase 2, missed in phase 3, now tried in Behçet's ulcers.
Ecallantide
A kallikrein-blocking protein injected during hereditary angioedema attacks. It works, but its anaphylaxis risk means it must be given by a healthcare professional.
Enfuvirtide
The first HIV fusion inhibitor: a synthetic piece of HIV's own gp41 protein, injected at 90 mg twice daily in the TORO trials. Added to an optimized regimen it cut viral load by 1.7 log against 0.8 at 24 weeks in TORO 1; 98% of patients had injection-site reactions.
Glatiramer Acetate
A synthetic peptide polymer for multiple sclerosis — one of the first disease-modifying therapies for MS, mimicking myelin basic protein to shift the immune response from attack to tolerance.
Gramicidin
One of the first antibiotics, isolated in 1939: too toxic to swallow or inject, still used in combination eye and ear drops.
hBD-1
The constitutive epithelial β-defensin — first isolated from haemodialysate urine by Bensch, Schröder and colleagues (FEBS Letters 1995). Constitutively expressed (unlike hBD-2 and hBD-3, which are inducible), salt-sensitive in standard assays, and a major component of urogenital and airway surface antimicrobial defense.
hBD-2
The inducible β-defensin — cloned by Harder, Bartels, Christophers and Schröder (Nature 1997) from the lesional scales of psoriasis patients, with the paper framing psoriatic skin as a paradoxical "almost-never-infected" phenotype driven by massive β-defensin induction. Induced by TLR / NF-κB signalling in response to bacterial lipopolysaccharide and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, TNF-α).
hBD-3
The broad-spectrum β-defensin — active against Gram-positive, Gram-negative and fungal targets, and largely salt-insensitive (unlike hBD-1). Isolated independently in 2001 by Harder et al. and by García et al. from psoriatic skin and tonsil respectively. The β-defensin most studied for clinical translation because of its salt tolerance.
HD5
The Paneth cell α-defensin — the dominant antimicrobial peptide of the human small intestine, stored at millimolar concentrations in Paneth cell secretory granules and released into the crypt lumen upon cholinergic or bacterial stimulus. Reduced HD5 expression is a recognised feature of ileal Crohn disease.
HD6
The Paneth cell defensin that traps gut bacteria in self-assembled nanonets instead of killing them; lower in Crohn's disease. A research subject, never a drug.
HNP-1
The prototype human α-defensin — isolated from neutrophil granules by Ganz, Selsted and Lehrer in 1985; the dominant antimicrobial peptide in human neutrophils and a workhorse molecule of innate immunity. Research peptide only: no defensin has ever been developed as an approved drug.
Icotrokinra
Johnson & Johnson's oral IL-23 receptor-blocking peptide, approved by FDA as Icotyde on March 17, 2026 for moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis from age 12: in two phase 3 trials 68-70% had clear or almost clear skin at week 16.
Lactoferricin
An antimicrobial peptide from mother's milk — a potent cationic fragment of lactoferrin with broad-spectrum activity against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites, plus emerging anticancer properties.
Magainin
The frog-skin peptide that launched antimicrobial peptide research — discovered in 1987 when a researcher noticed surgical frogs never developed infections.
Melittin
The main weapon in bee venom — a powerful membrane-disrupting peptide being repurposed as an antimicrobial and anticancer research tool.
Micafungin
The echinocandin approved for prevention as well as treatment: it beat fluconazole as prophylaxis after stem cell transplants and matched liposomal amphotericin B for candidaemia.
Mifamurtide
An immune activator added to chemotherapy for childhood bone cancer: approved in Europe after a large trial suggested fewer deaths, never approved in the US.
Motixafortide
A 14-amino-acid cyclic peptide that releases stem cells from the bone marrow by blocking CXCR4. Approved as Aphexda in 2023 for use with filgrastim before stem cell collection in multiple myeloma.
Nisin
The food-grade antimicrobial peptide — a 34-amino-acid lantibiotic used in food preservation worldwide for 50+ years, with emerging pharmaceutical applications against MRSA and biofilms.
Oritavancin
A one-infusion antibiotic for serious skin infections. It interferes with blood-clotting tests for up to two days, which its label warns about first.
Pegcetacoplan
A pegylated cyclic peptide that blocks complement C3. Approved as Empaveli for paroxysmal nocturnal haemoglobinuria and two kidney diseases, and as Syfovre, injected into the eye, for geographic atrophy.
PEPITEM
A brake on T-cell traffic that B cells release and that fades with age and in autoimmune disease: strong mouse data, patient cells, no human trial yet.
Polymyxin B
The gram-negative last resort — a cyclic lipopeptide antibiotic revived from the 1950s as a critical weapon against carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, and Klebsiella.
Rezafungin
An echinocandin that lasts long enough to give once a week. It matched daily caspofungin in its phase 3 trial and is approved for candidaemia when other options are limited.
Romiplostim
A peptibody that boosts platelet production — an Fc-fused peptide mimicking thrombopoietin, FDA-approved for immune thrombocytopenia.
Substance P
The pain neuropeptide of the NK1 receptor: infusing it gave 71% of healthy adults a headache, and blocking it failed as a painkiller.
Teicoplanin
Vancomycin's European cousin: as effective in trials, with fewer kidney problems and no red man syndrome, but never approved in the US.
Telavancin
A vancomycin derivative with a second way of killing bacteria. It matched vancomycin in large trials, but carries a boxed warning for higher mortality in pneumonia patients with poor kidney function.
Thymopentin
A synthetic five-amino-acid fragment of thymopoietin (TP-5), sold as Timunox. Small 1980s and 1990s trials found modest benefits over placebo in atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis. Not approved in the US.
Thymosin α1
A thymic peptide approved as Zadaxin in about 35 countries; its hepatitis trials were mixed, and its largest trial, in 1,106 sepsis patients, found no effect on death.
Thymulin
A zinc-dependent thymic nonapeptide, measured in people far more often than it has ever been given to them.
Vancomycin
The IV antibiotic for resistant staphylococci and the oral one for C. difficile, now dosed by drug levels and beaten head-to-head by newer drugs.
VIP
Vasoactive intestinal peptide, a 28-amino-acid gut and lung peptide whose synthetic form, aviptadil, was tested in COVID-19 respiratory failure: the 461-patient TESICO trial was stopped for futility, while a 196-patient trial missed its primary end point and reported better day-60 survival. Infused into people with migraine it brings attacks on. Not approved in the US.
Voclosporin
A modified cyclosporine with more predictable blood levels, approved in 2021 for the kidney inflammation of lupus. It doubled complete kidney responses against placebo in its phase 3 trial.
Zilucoplan
A self-injectable complement inhibitor — a synthetic macrocyclic peptide that blocks C5 complement activation, FDA-approved for generalized myasthenia gravis as a daily subcutaneous injection.