Induced proximity comes of age

The May 2026 approval of vepdegestrant — restricted to ESR1-mutated, ER-positive, HER2-negative advanced breast cancer — made the first PROTAC degrader a clinical reality and validated induced proximity as a pharmacological modality: drugs that bring a target protein together with the cell's degradation machinery instead of merely blocking it. Nature Medicine argues the principle now reaches beyond degraders to molecular glues and other proximity-based designs entering early clinical development across tumour types. This is a perspective on where the field is heading, not a report of new trial results.