Yale-led Technology Receives FDA Approval For Breast Cancer Treatment

The biotech company Arvinas was originally founded based on pioneering research from Yale chemist Craig Crews into PROTAC protein degraders.

May 10, 2026 – By Meg Dalton – More than a decade ago, Yale chemist Craig Crews founded a biotechnology company in New Haven based on his pioneering research into PROTACs (or PROteolysis TArgeting Chimera), a technology that treats certain types of cancer and other diseases by degrading the proteins that cause them. 

Craig Crews  Photo by Marissa Fiorucci

That company, Arvinas, has since developed a PROTAC therapy called vepdegestrant, which is now helping patients living with breast cancer. 

Last week, vepdegestrant, which is developed by Arvinas and Pfizer under the brand name Veppanu, became the first PROTAC therapy to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

The once-daily oral therapy will be available as treatment for adults with estrogen receptor-positive, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative, ESR1-mutated advanced or metastatic breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide, with many tumors driven by estrogen receptor signaling.

For Crews, the FDA approval of vepdegestrant as a treatment for breast cancer now has additional personal meaning. 

“I’m thrilled that breast cancer patients will have an additional option for treatment,” said Crews, who is the John C. Malone Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and professor of chemistry in Yale’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences and professor of pharmacology at Yale School of Medicine. “My mother was diagnosed last year with breast cancer, and so I know the challenges that patients and their families face with thinking about therapeutic options.” 

Largely pioneered at Yale, PROTACs have already inspired dozens of other companies that are developing degrader…

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