The 12 most binder-saturated targets
| Rank | Target | Binders in BindingDB | Therapeutic area |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) | 15,259 | Alzheimer's, myasthenia, neurodegeneration |
| 2 | D(2) dopamine receptor | 14,869 | Antipsychotics, Parkinson's |
| 3 | Potassium voltage-gated channel hERG | 13,250 | Cardiac safety screening |
| 4 | JAK2 tyrosine kinase | 12,975 | Myeloproliferative, autoimmune |
| 5 | Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) | 11,930 | Oncology (NSCLC, CRC) |
| 6 | Mu-type opioid receptor | 11,879 | Analgesia |
| 7 | VEGF receptor 2 | 11,422 | Oncology, ophthalmology |
| 8 | Adenosine receptor A2A | 11,163 | Parkinson's, immuno-oncology |
| 9 | Adenosine receptor A1 | 10,448 | Cardiovascular, CNS |
| 10 | Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) | 10,444 | Heme-onc, autoimmune |
| 11 | Cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) | 10,395 | CNS, metabolic |
| 12 | 5-HT1A receptor | 10,372 | Depression, anxiety |
How to read it
| Pattern in the data | What it means |
|---|---|
| AChE, D2, opioid receptor, 5-HT1A all in the top 12 | CNS chemistry is the most mature space |
| JAK2, EGFR, VEGFR2, BTK all in the top 12 | Kinase-inhibitor design space is heavily mined |
| hERG at #3 | Present for cardiac-safety screening, not therapeutic intent |
| Top-12 average = 11.9K binders each | Targets outside the top-50 are structurally less crowded and more defensible commercially |
What this means for BD & R&D
- Asset valuators — a "novel BTK inhibitor" or "Nth-gen EGFR inhibitor" sits in deep chemical-space competition. Differentiation needs to be biochemistry-led (selectivity, covalency, brain penetrance) not just affinity.
- Discovery teams — targets with <1,000 binders in BindingDB are still genuinely novel chemical space.
- Diligence teams — BindingDB density is a free, defensible proxy for "how crowded is this target really."
Verifiable at bindingdb.org.
Editorial commentary on publicly available regulatory and public-database data. Not investment, legal, regulatory, or medical advice.