Pharmaceutical Peptides

Praecis Pharmaceuticals, originally founded as Pharmaceutical Peptides, Inc. in 1993, was a biopharmaceutical company based in Waltham, Massachusetts, focused on the discovery and development of novel therapeutic compounds. The company's lead product, Plenaxis (abarelix), was a first-in-class gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist approved for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. Praecis also developed the DirectSelect technology, a proprietary platform for the discovery of small molecule drugs using ultra-large DNA-encoded libraries, which significantly influenced modern drug discovery methods. In 2007, the company was acquired by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) for approximately $55 million, integrating its innovative platform and clinical assets into GSK's research and development organization.