2. Academic Validation
  3. Discovery of CNS-Penetrant Apoptosis Signal-Regulating Kinase 1 (ASK1) Inhibitors

Discovery of CNS-Penetrant Apoptosis Signal-Regulating Kinase 1 (ASK1) Inhibitors

  • ACS Med Chem Lett. 2020 Feb 12;11(4):485-490. doi: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00611.
Zhili Xin 1,  Martin K Himmelbauer 1,  J Howard Jones 1,  Istvan Enyedy 1,  Rab Gilfillan 1,  Thomas Hesson 1,  Kristopher King 1,  Douglas J Marcotte 1,  Paramasivam Murugan 1,  Joseph C Santoro 1,  Felix Gonzalez-Lopez de Turiso 1
Affiliations

Affiliation

  • 1 Medicinal Chemistry, Bioassays, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics, and Physical Biochemistry and Molecular Design, Biotherapeutic and Medicinal Sciences, Biogen, 225 Binney Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, United States.
PMID: 32292554 DOI: 10.1021/acsmedchemlett.9b00611
Abstract

Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a key mediator in the apoptotic and inflammatory cellular stress response. To investigate the therapeutic value of modulating this pathway in Neurological Disease, we have completed medicinal chemistry studies to identify novel CNS-penetrant ASK1 inhibitors starting from peripherally restricted compounds reported in the literature. This effort led to the discovery of 21, a novel ASK1 inhibitor with good potency (cell IC50 = 138 nM), low clearance (rat Cl/Clu = 0.36/6.7 L h-1 kg-1) and good CNS penetration (rat K p,uu = 0.38).

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