molecules of the month

PF-05221304 is a liver targeted inhibitor of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC). ACC is a key regulator of lipid metabolism, and there has been significant interest in ACC inhibitors for the treatment of multiple indications including NASH and diabetes. Pfizer previously took a systemic ACC inhibitor into the clinic (PF-05175157), which was found to exert the desired reduction on liver-based lipogenesis but was also found to have a side effect of reducing platelet counts due to activity in the bone marrow. To identify a potentially safer liver targeting molecule, the Pfizer team looked for molecules that were likely to be recognized by the liver uptake transporters, OATP1B1 and OATP1B3, and used a non-human primate model to confirm evaluate the therapeutic index. PF-05221304 was…