High throughput cherry-picking of solvated samples.

Advances in the design of automated compound storage systems have made it possible to store large collections of research compounds in individual single-use aliquots dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and rapidly retrieve a specific group off them. This 'cherry-picking' approach offers researchers the opportunity to request large numbers of compounds desired for testing without having to also retrieve all the other compounds stored on the same rack or plate. This makes it possible to meet the increasing demand for samples from High Throughput Screening and Therapeutic Area teams without adding staff to dispense from powder each time, without the constraints imposed by storing in solvated compounds in fixed-well 96- or 384-way plates, and without sacrificing sample quality or shelf life by storing at room temperature. We describe how this approach has been implemented at Abbott Laboratories' central compound repository to provide smaller amounts of more compounds faster and with high quality. In doing so, we have been able to better support the innovation of our Drug Discovery colleagues.

Discovery and optimization of anthranilic acid sulfonamides as inhibitors of methionine aminopeptidase-2: a structural basis for the reduction of albumin binding.

Methionine aminopeptidase-2 (MetAP2) is a novel target for cancer therapy. As part of an effort to discover orally active reversible inhibitors of MetAP2, a series of anthranilic acid sulfonamides with micromolar affinities for human MetAP2 were identified using affinity selection by mass spectrometry (ASMS) screening. These micromolar hits were rapidly improved to nanomolar leads on the basis of insights from protein crystallography; however, the compounds displayed extensive binding to human serum albumin and had limited activity in cellular assays. Modifications based on structural information on the binding of lead compounds to both MetAP2 and domain III of albumin allowed the identification of compounds with significant improvements in both parameters, which showed good cellular activity in both proliferation and methionine processing assays.