Small molecule drugs are synthesized using traditional organic chemistry techniques, which not only ensures that they are reproducible and controllable, but also allows the chemical structure of the drug to be finely tuned to optimize its pharmacological properties. Lower production costs facilitate large-scale manufacturing.

Today it’s estimated that small molecules account for 90% of drugs in the market.

Small molecule drugs have gone through the era of compounds, the era of molecular biology, the era of targeted drugs, and in recent years there are two special types of small molecules in the development of new small molecule drugs: molecular glues (Molecular Glue) and protein hydrolysis-targeted chimeras (PROTAC).

Small molecule drugs are organic compounds with a single well-defined active ingredient and a molecular weight of less than 1,000 daltons, which allows them to easily penetrate cell membranes and reach molecular targets inside the cell, a key property for their therapeutic effect.