A recent paper by Merck details the industrial synthesis of enlicitide, which is a beast of a macrocyclic peptide.
Just looking at the structure tells you that this must be a ferociously active molecule with huge commercial potential, because there is just no way that anyone is going to make this on scale - or find a way to make this on scale! - otherwise.
Several companies have tried over the years to come up with a small-molecule approach that could lead to an orally dosed therapy as opposed to an injectable, and Merck has apparently made it over the finish line with this one.
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I definitely need to cover this recent work from Merck (MRK) because (1) it’s very interesting scientifically and (2) it has over 130 authors on the paper (!). It details the industrial synthesis of
