A review discusses the advantages and principal shortcomings of polypeptides as drug candidates, and on approaches that have been used to overcome these deficits successfully.With the completion of the sequencing of the human genome, it is certain that many more opportunities to evaluate new polypeptides and proteins will be recognized.The shortcomings of peptides and proteins as drug candidates relate to their typically short biol. t1/2 due to rapid clearance, to low oral bioavailability, and to a lack of receptor subtype specificity. Several very exciting drug candidates in current development are polypeptides and this discussion will analyze how these challenges have been overcome.Despite the several issues, polypeptide research remains an exciting area for the identification of important therapeutics because of the approaches outlined.
