Carbohydrates - namely glycans - decorate every cell in the human body and most secreted proteins. Advances in genomics, glycoproteomics and tools from chemical biology have made glycobiology more tractable and understandable. Dysregulated glycosylation plays a major role in disease processes from immune evasion to cognition, sparking research that aims to target glycans for therapeutic benefit. The field is now poised for a boom in drug development. As a harbinger of this activity, glycobiology has already produced several drugs that have improved human health or are currently being translated to the clinic. Focusing on three areas - selectins, Siglecs and glycan-targeted antibodies - this Review aims to tell the stories behind therapies inspired by glycans and to outline how the lessons learned from these approaches are paving the way for future glycobiology-focused therapeutics.