BAY 2413555 is a M2R PAM that has the potential to counter parasympathetic withdrawal and restore autonomic balance in heart failure patients. The preclinical and clinical data of BAY 2413555 showed it has positive effects on heart rate and heart rate variability and a relatively long human t1/2 of 37 h. The Ph. I trial, however, was terminated in March 2024 due to findings from a chronic toxicology study. This article covers the discovery of BAY 2413555, presented by Alexandros Vakalopoulos of Bayer at the EFMC-ISMC 2024 conference in Rome and published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

Despite the remarkable emergence of HAART in the 1990s, the fight against HIV infection is by no means finished. At the ACS Fall 2024 meeting in Denver, CO, Gilead Sciences presented the structure and discovery story of elunonavir (GS-1156), a novel HIV protease inhibitor with remarkable metabolic stability and a human half-life exceeding two weeks. Based on BMS’ atazanavir, the compound incorporates structural elements inspired by Gilead’s HCV NS5A inhibitor program which led to ledipasvir, as “stabilizer” motifs to avoid the extensive CYP metabolism seen in current inhibitors.

STX-478 is a wild-type-sparing, oral, CNS-penetrant, novel allosteric inhibitor of mutant PI3Kα (phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase α) targeting a cryptic pocket near the ATP-binding site. PI3Kα plays a central role in many cancers, and has been recently highlighted in coverage of 2021 Molecule of the Year nominee and PI3Kα degrader inavolisib. Currently approved PI3Kα modulators are limited by their off-target activities on WT PI3Kα and other kinases, leading to significant side effects including hyperglycemia and rash.

Novartis’ HRO761 is an oral allosteric WRN helicase inhibitor, aimed at treating MSI-high and dMMR tumors. This article details the discovery of HRO761 and highlights the importance of selecting appropriate assays during early HTS as well as transferable medicinal chemistry strategies to optimize permeability and solubility through the modulation of LipE, neutral TPSA, chameleonicity, and non-classical zwitterions. It also explores the X-ray structure of HRO761 bound to WRN, how it differentiates from Vividion's VVD-214, its preclinical activity, clinical status, chemical synthesis, and more!

Cerevance’s CVN293 is an oral, CNS-penetrant, selective inhibitor of potassium efflux-mediated NLRP3-inflammasome activation in microglia for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders. Cerevance’s NETSseq platform was used to discover a microglia-specific potassium efflux channel, KCNK13, which allows modulation of the NLRP3-inflammasome in the CNS without affecting peripheral innate immunity. Read the full article to discover highlights on the CNS-penetration of highly polar compounds and how particle size can be key to oral bioavailability