Liselotte Öhberg

Design and synthesis of β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme (BACE1) inhibitors with in vivo brain reduction of β-amyloid peptides.

The evaluation of a series of aminoisoindoles as β-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1 (BACE1) inhibitors and the discovery of a clinical candidate drug for Alzheimers disease, (S)-32 (AZD3839), are described. The improvement in permeability properties by the introduction of fluorine adjacent to the amidine moiety, resulting in in vivo brain reduction of Aβ40, is discussed. Due to the basic nature of these compounds, they displayed affinity for the human ether-a-go-go related gene (hERG) ion channel. Different ways to reduce hERG inhibition and increase hERG margins for this series are described, culminating in (S)-16 and (R)-41 showing large in vitro margins with BACE1 cell IC(50) values of 8.6 and 0.16 nM, respectively, and hERG IC(50) values of 16 and 2.8 μM, respectively. Several compounds were advanced into pharmacodynamic studies and demonstrated significant reduction of β-amyloid peptides in mouse brain following oral dosing.

Liver X receptor agonists with selectivity for LXRβ; N-aryl-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methylpropionamides

The synthesis and SAR of a new series of LXR agonist is reported. The N-Aryl-3,3,3-trifluoro-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-propionamide hits were found in a limited screen of the AstraZeneca compound collection. The effort to optimize these hits into LXRbeta selectivity is described. Compound 20 displayed desirable pharmacokinetic profile and up regulation of ABCA1 and ABCG1 mRNA in the brain were achieved when evaluated in vivo in mice.