Do Peptide Therapeutics have a place in a world of antibodies and small molecules?
Abhijit Bhat
Director, CovX, Pfizer
Pharmaceutical and biotech pipelines are heavily weighted towards antibody and small molecule based therapeutics. Peptides in general are often viewed as starting points for drug discovery rather than a viable solution on their own. Lack of oral bioavailability, poor permeability, metabolic instability along with formulation and delivery challenges are often cited as liabilities when considering peptides as drugs. On the other hand, peptides possess unique potential to function as receptor agonists, targeting agents or bifunctional molecules that could to be effectively harnessed in order to develop differentiated medicines. Chemical strategies aimed at creating peptide therapeutics with differentiated target product profiles will be presented.
Abhijit "Abhi" Bhat was most recently the head of Chemistry at CovX, a Pfizer Research Unit focused on peptide and protein based drug discovery. Since joining CovX in Feb 2003, Abhi has helped build the CovX chemistry group and assumed its leadership in late 2009. During his tenure at CovX and previously Ontogen, Abhi has managed preclinical discovery programs in diverse disease areas such as pncology, pain, HIV, wound healing and diabetes. He also led an oncology clinical team that successfully initiated and conducted Phase I and Phase IB studies of an antiangiogenic agent CVX-060. His research interests span peptide and protein medicinal chemistry, bioconjugation techniques and targeted delivery systems. He is passionate about evolving the practice of peptide medicinal chemistry and multiparametric optimization of peptide and protein leads. Abhi received a Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry at The Ohio State University and conducted post doctoral training at the Univesity of Arizona, exploring therapeutic applications of carbohydrates.