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Cedric Schaack, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Wake Forest University

A molecule’s ‘handedness’ can determine whether it’s an effective drug – 4 examples of pharmaceuticals where chirality matters

Henri Kagan of France and Kenso Soai from Japan won the 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry for their work on chiral molecules. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images

The 2026 Nobel Prize in chemistry concerns a property called chirality, which may sound like an abstract science term but is actually all around you, all the time.

Picture a spiral galaxy rotating in space, or follow the outline of a snail’s shell as it spirals clockwise to the tip. In each case, you can draw a mirror image of the spiral that won’t overlap with the original picture.

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