Q1 · MEDICINE
Article
Author: Pulicharla, Nagalakshmi ; Meanwell, Nicholas A. ; McPhee, Fiona ; Sinha, Sarmistha ; Zheng, Barbara ; Fang, Hua ; Sivaprasad, Sankar ; Rampulla, Richard ; D’Andrea, Stanley ; Scola, Paul M. ; Kumar, Amit ; Baratam, Venkata Rao ; Sun, Li-Qiang ; Mosure, Kathy ; Kandhasamy, Sarkunam ; Wang, Ying-Kai ; Loy, James ; Jenkins, Susan ; Puttaswamy, Sunitha ; Reddy, Subba ; Chen, Chaoqun ; Rendunchintala, Kishore ; Desai, Salil ; Mathur, Arvind ; Trivedi, Ravi ; Anumula, Rushith ; Hiebert, Sheldon ; Mull, Eric ; Zvyaga, Tatyana A. ; Bowsher, Michael ; Vishwakrishnan, Sureshbabu ; Ghosh, Kaushik ; Gillis, Eric ; Rajamani, Ramkumar ; Falk, Paul ; Tagore, Debarati M. ; Rao, Abhijith
The discovery of a pan-genotypic hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS3/4A protease inhibitor based on a P1-P3 macrocyclic tripeptide motif is described. The all-carbon tether linking the P1-P3 subsites of 21 is functionalized with alkyl substituents, which are shown to effectively modulate both potency and absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME) properties. The CF3Boc-group that caps the P3 amino moiety was discovered to be an essential contributor to metabolic stability, while positioning a methyl group at the C1 position of the P1' cyclopropyl ring enhanced plasma trough values following oral administration to rats. The C7-fluoro, C6-CD3O substitution pattern of the P2* isoquinoline heterocycle of 21 was essential to securing the targeted potency, pharmacokinetic (PK), and toxicological profiles. The C6-CD3O redirected metabolism away from a problematic pathway, thereby circumventing the time-dependent cytochrome P (CYP) 450 inhibition observed with the C6-CH3O prototype.