Structures of 13 drug candidates unveiled at ACS Fall 2025

WASHINGTON, DC—On Wednesday at the American Chemical Society Fall 2025 meeting, students and seasoned drug hunters alike gathered in a spacious third-floor ballroom of the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the Division of Medicinal Chemistry’s popular first-time disclosures session. Over the course of the daylong symposium, 13 researchers working at pharmaceutical giants and small biotech firms revealed the structures of their drug candidates and shared each molecule’s journey from initial discovery campaign to the clinic. In her introductory remarks, symposium organizer H. Rachel Lagiakos of Schrödinger emphasized the broad variety of diseases that the presented molecules are being developed to treat. She also highlighted the diversity of therapeutic modalities represented, including traditional small-molecule inhibitors, molecular glues, a stapled peptide, and even a radiotracer ligand. “There is something here for everyone,” Lagiakos said.Candidate: IID432Presenter: Olivier René, NovartisTarget: Trypanosoma cruzi topoisomerase IIDisease: Chagas diseaseClinical: Phase 1 scheduled to begin in 2026Related: Cyanotriazoles show antiparasitic promiseCandidate: BMS-986470Presenter: Thomas Cummins, Bristol Myers SquibbTarget: BTB domain-containing 7A (ZBTB7A) and widely interspaced zinc finger protein (WIZ)Disease: Sickle cell diseaseClinical: Phase I (NCT06481306)Related: Dueling glue degraders take on sickle cell disease Candidate: GS-1427Presenter: Leena Patel, Gilead SciencesTarget: α4β7 integrinDisease: Inflammatory bowel diseaseClinical: Phase 2 (NCT06290934)Candidate: PF-07899895Presenter: David Ebner, PfizerTarget: Salt-inducible kinases (SIKs)1–3Disease: Inflammatory bowel diseaseClinical: Phase 1 (NCT06137729)Candidate: AZD0233Presenter: Karolina Nilsson, AstraZenecaTarget: Fractalkine receptor CX3C chemokine receptor 1 (CX3CR1)Disease: Cardiovascular diseaseClinical: Phase 1 (NCT06381466)Candidate: PF-07293893Presenter: Michael Green, PfizerTarget: Adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase γ 3 (AMPKγ3)Disease: Heart failureClinical: Completed Phase 1 (NCT06177457)Candidate: [11C]MK-7337Presenter: Helen Mitchell, Merck &