💊Drug Development · September 2026
This month's papers that advance a drug or therapy toward patients (2026.09.01 → 2026.09.26), by modality, disease and how far along the evidence is. Clinical trials are on their own page.
- Papers
- 1,489 29% of the month's 5,164Mar–Aug: 27% (23–32%)
- Human study
- 488 33%Mar–Aug: 31% (24–35%)
- Animal (in vivo)
- 895 60%Mar–Aug: 62% (59–65%)
- In vitro / preclinical
- 106 7%Mar–Aug: 7% (4–10%)
Key findings
Scored and written by gpt-4o-mini from this month's papers; each sentence checked against its abstracts.
- Intranasal SLNs reduce glioblastoma tumor volumeanimal (in vivo)
Intranasal delivery of solid lipid nanoparticles co-loaded with carmustine and temozolomide significantly reduced tumor volume in glioblastoma mice.
- Targeting RPL4 enhances PD-L1 blockadeanimal (in vivo)
Targeting RPL4 enhances the efficacy of PD-L1 blockade in liver fibrosis treatment.
- ALB-phage suppresses leukemia in modelsanimal (in vivo)
ALB-phage effectively penetrated the blood-brain barrier and suppressed leukemia in preclinical models.
- Engineered probiotics induce antitumor immunityanimal (in vivo)
Engineered probiotics demonstrated potent antitumor effects and induced systemic antitumor immunity in murine models.
- 177Lu-trastuzumab targets resistant brain metastasesanimal (in vivo)
177Lu-trastuzumab therapy showed significant efficacy against trastuzumab-resistant brain metastases in HER2+ breast cancer.
- B4-39 matches crisaborole efficacyanimal (in vivo)
Topical B4-39 was more effective than dexamethasone and matched crisaborole efficacy at a lower dose.
- HITMAN therapy inhibits glioblastoma growthanimal (in vivo)
HITMAN therapy significantly inhibits glioblastoma growth and extends survival in mouse models.
- Codon-optimized mRNA corrects NPC1 diseaseanimal (in vivo)
Codon-optimized Npc1 mRNA corrected disease defects in vitro and improved liver function in an Npc1 -/- mouse model.
By modality
From the MeSH branches of each paper's headings; a paper can have several. Papers naming no modality follow, by what their MeSH does say. Beside each, its share of the development papers in each whole month Mar–Aug: the average, and the range it moved in. ▲ or ▼ marks this month above or below that range, for rows with 10 or more papers this month.
- Human study
- Animal (in vivo)
- In vitro / preclinical
Show table
| modality | Human study | Animal (in vivo) | In vitro / preclinical | Papers | Share | Mar–Aug avg | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nanoparticle & delivery | 16 | 234 | 23 | 273 | 18% | 24% | 19–30% |
| Antibody & conjugate | 40 | 62 | 0 | 102 | 7% | 9% | 8–10% |
| Cell therapy | 30 | 36 | 2 | 68 | 5% | 5% | 4–6% |
| Gene & RNA therapy | 8 | 39 | 12 | 59 | 4% | 6% | 4–9% |
| Natural product | 2 | 53 | 1 | 56 | 4% | 3% | 2–4% |
| Vaccine | 9 | 42 | 2 | 53 | 4% | 4% | 3–5% |
| Radiopharmaceutical | 5 | 14 | 0 | 19 | 1% | 1% | 1–2% |
| Microbiome & probiotic | 1 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 1% | 0% | 0–1% |
| Small molecule | 88 | 219 | 37 | 344 | 23% | 20% | 18–22% |
| Drug class only | 46 | 85 | 14 | 145 | 10% | 9% | 7–11% |
| No drug term | 205 | 104 | 9 | 318 | 21% | 18% | 16–21% |
| Not yet indexed | 47 | 62 | 10 | 119 | 8% | 8% | 1–14% |
By disease area
MeSH disease categories of each paper's disease terms; a paper can fall in several. Beside each, its share of the development papers in each whole month Mar–Aug: the average, and the range it moved in. ▲ or ▼ marks this month above or below that range, for rows with 10 or more papers this month.
- Human study
- Animal (in vivo)
- In vitro / preclinical
Show table
| disease area | Human study | Animal (in vivo) | In vitro / preclinical | Papers | Share | Mar–Aug avg | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neoplasms | 212 | 298 | 34 | 544 | 37% | 31% | 30–32% |
| Nervous System Diseases | 66 | 78 | 4 | 148 | 10% | 12% | 10–13% |
| Digestive System Diseases | 52 | 87 | 8 | 147 | 10% | 11% | 10–12% |
| Urogenital Diseases | 62 | 73 | 8 | 143 | 10% | 8% | 7–9% |
| Endocrine System Diseases | 47 | 82 | 6 | 135 | 9% | 9% | 7–11% |
| Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases | 35 | 73 | 10 | 118 | 8% | 8% | 6–9% |
| Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases | 37 | 75 | 2 | 114 | 8% | 7% | 5–9% |
| Respiratory Tract Diseases | 38 | 56 | 3 | 97 | 7% | 6% | 6–7% |
| Infections | 28 | 64 | 2 | 94 | 6% | 8% | 6–10% |
| Immune System Diseases | 51 | 39 | 3 | 93 | 6% | 6% | 4–8% |
| Cardiovascular Diseases | 48 | 34 | 1 | 83 | 6% | 6% | 4–8% |
| Hemic and Lymphatic Diseases | 32 | 34 | 3 | 69 | 5% | 4% | 3–5% |
| Musculoskeletal Diseases | 23 | 34 | 1 | 58 | 4% | 3% | 3–4% |
| Congenital, Hereditary, and Neonatal Diseases and Abnormalities | 17 | 25 | 0 | 42 | 3% | 2% | 2–3% |
| Wounds and Injuries | 17 | 21 | 0 | 38 | 3% | 2% | 2–3% |
| Mental Disorders | 11 | 16 | 1 | 28 | 2% | 3% | 2–3% |
| Eye Diseases | 8 | 17 | 2 | 27 | 2% | 2% | 1–3% |
| Stomatognathic Diseases | 7 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 1% | 1% | 1–2% |
| Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases | 7 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 1% | 0% | 0–1% |
| Chemically-Induced Disorders | 3 | 6 | 0 | 9 | 1% | 1% | 0–1% |
… of 1,489 papers
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A paper is here when the report's model (gpt-4o-mini) scores it as advancing a drug or therapy toward patients: in vivo efficacy of a candidate or a clinical result. The score reads the title and abstract and misjudges some papers. Evidence comes from PubMed's publication types and MeSH, not the model. Clinical trials are left out; see Clinical Trials.