The present invention relates to compounds which bind selectively to the adhesion molecule human P-selectin, and particularly to such compounds comprising a peptide with an amino acid sequence XA.sub.xA.sub.3A.sub.1A.sub.2A.sub.1Y, or a functional equivalent of said peptide. In addition, the invention relates to methods for preparing such compounds, to the use of such compounds in therapeutic or diagnostic methods and in pharmaceutical compositions, to nucleic acids encoding for proteinaceous materials comprising the amino acid sequences of said compounds, to gene delivery vehicles comprising such nucleic acids, to binding molecules binding to said compounds, and to a method for determining whether a compound is capable of binding to P-selectin.