SALT LAKE CITY, October 14, 2025 — A University of Utah team has shown that a radical enzyme can "tie off" therapeutic peptides into compact rings without the usual leader-sequence requirements, an advance now moving from campus to clinic-facing development through Utah spinout Sethera Therapeutics. The findings have been published in a paper in the prestigious ACS Bio & Med Chem Au Journal.
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Key Takeaways:
- PapB enzyme enables peptide macrocyclization without traditional leader sequences, allowing researchers to modify therapeutic peptides across multiple scaffolds with minimal re-engineering required.
- C-terminal ring formation blocks proteases and stabilizes receptor binding, directly addressing stability and tissue-targeting challenges in next-generation GLP-1 therapies for patients.
- The University of Utah's enzymatic platform is moving toward commercialization through Sethera Therapeutics, shortening the bench-to-bedside pathway for incretin medicines with capital-efficient development.
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About Sethera Therapeutics
Sethera Therapeutics is revolutionizing peptide-based drug development with its cutting-edge enzymatic cross-linking technology. Their platform enables the synthesis of highly stable, polymacrocyclic peptides designed to engage with single targets or multiple targets simultaneously, offering unparalleled precision in therapeutic design. Sethera has a PolyMacrocyclic Peptide (pMCP) Discovery Platform that helps partners discover and engineer MCPs with unique architectures and chemistries for a wide range of targets. The technology was first developed at the University of Utah with NIH funding and licensed exclusively to Sethera Therapeutics. By collaborating with industry leaders and research institutions, Sethera aims to unlock new possibilities in drug discovery and development, providing tailored solutions for a wide array of therapeutic needs.
For more information about partnering with Sethera, please visit https://setheratx.com/.
For more information about partnering with Sethera, please visit https://setheratx.com/.
Contacts:
Chelli Miller
219-921-6823
[email protected]
Source: Sethera Therapeutics
Distributed by: Reportable, Inc.
