Discovery of Clinical Candidate CHF-6366: A Novel Super-soft Dual Pharmacology Muscarinic Antagonist and ß2 Agonist (MABA) for the Inhaled Treatment of Respiratory Diseases.

The development of molecules embedding two distinct pharmacophores acting as muscarinic antagonists and ß2 agonists (MABAs) promises to be an excellent opportunity to reduce formulation issues and boost efficacy through cross-talk and allosteric interactions. Herein, we report the results of our drug discovery campaign aimed at improving the therapeutic index of a previous MABA series by exploiting the super soft-drug concept. The incorporation of a metabolic liability, stable at the site of administration but undergoing rapid systemic metabolism, to generate poorly active and quickly eliminated fragments was pursued. Our SAR studies yielded MABA 29, which demonstrated a balanced in vivo profile up to 24 h, high instability in plasma and the liver, as well as sustained exposure in the lung. In vitro safety and non-GLP toxicity studies supported the nomination of 29 (CHF-6366) as a clinical candidate, attesting to the successful development of a novel super-soft MABA compound.

Impact of simulated lung fluid components on the solubility of inhaled drugs and predicted in vivo performance.

Orally inhaled products (OIPs) are gaining increased attention, as pulmonary delivery is a preferred route for the treatment of various diseases. Yet, the field of inhalation biopharmaceutics is still in development phase. For a successful correlation between various in vitro data obtained during formulation characterization and in vivo performance, it is necessary to understand the impact of parameters such as solubility and dissolution of drugs. In this work, we used in vitro-in silico feedback-feedforward approach to gain a better insight into the biopharmaceutics behavior of inhaled Salbutamol Sulphate (SS) and Budesonide (BUD). The thorough characterization of the in vitro test media and the impact of different in vitro fluid components such as lipids and protein on the solubility of aforementioned drugs was studied. These results were subsequently used as an input into the developed in silico models to investigate potential PK parameter changes in vivo. Results revealed that media comprising lipids and albumin were the most biorelevant and impacted the solubility of BUD the most. On the contrary, no notable impact was seen in case of SS. The use of simple media such as phosphate buffer saline (PBS) might be sufficient to use in solubility studies of the highly soluble and permeable drugs. However, its use for the poorly soluble drugs is limited due to the greater potential for interactions within in vivo environment. The use of in silico tools showed that the model response varies, depending on the used media. Therefore, this work highlights the relevance of carefully selecting the media composition when investigating solubility and dissolution behavior, especially in the early phases of drug development and of poorly soluble drugs.

Discovery of a novel class of inhaled dual pharmacology muscarinic antagonist and ß2 agonist (MABA) for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The targeting of both the muscarinic and ß-adrenergic pathways is a well validated therapeutic approach for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In this communication we report our effort to incorporate two pharmacologies into a single chemical entity, whose characteristic must be suitable for a once daily inhaled administration. Contextually, we aimed at a locally acting therapy with limited systemic absorption to minimize side effects. Our lung-tailored design of bifunctional compounds that combine the muscarinic and ß-adrenergic pharmacologies by the elaboration of the muscarinic inhibitor 7, successfully led to the potent, pharmacologically balanced muscarinic antagonist and ß2 agonist (MABA) 13.

Inter-compound and Intra-compound Global Sensitivity Analysis of a Physiological Model for Pulmonary Absorption of Inhaled Compounds.

In recent years, global sensitivity analysis (GSA) has gained interest in physiologically based pharmacokinetics (PBPK) modelling and simulation from pharmaceutical industry, regulatory authorities, and academia. With the case study of an in-house PBPK model for inhaled compounds in rats, the aim of this work is to show how GSA can contribute in PBPK model development and daily use. We identified two types of GSA that differ in the aims and, thus, in the parameter variability: inter-compound and intra-compound GSA. The inter-compound GSA aims to understand which are the parameters that mostly influence the variability of the metrics of interest in the whole space of the drugs' properties, and thus, it is useful during the model development. On the other hand, the intra-compound GSA aims to highlight how much the uncertainty associated with the parameters of a given drug impacts the uncertainty in the model prediction and so, it is useful during routine PBPK use. In this work, inter-compound GSA highlighted that dissolution- and formulation-related parameters were mostly important for the prediction of the fraction absorbed, while the permeability is the most important parameter for lung AUC and MRT. Intra-compound GSA highlighted that, for all the considered compounds, the permeability was one of the most important parameters for lung AUC, MRT and plasma MRT, while the extraction ratio and the dose for the plasma AUC. GSA is a crucial instrument for the quality assessment of model-based inference; for this reason, we suggest its use during both PBPK model development and use.

Dissecting the Pharmacodynamics and Pharmacokinetics of MSCs to Overcome Limitations in Their Clinical Translation.

Recently, mesenchymal stromal stem cells (MSCs) have been proposed as therapeutic agents because of their promising preclinical features and good safety profile. However, their introduction into clinical practice has been associated with a suboptimal therapeutic profile. In this review, we address the biodistribution of MSCs in preclinical studies with a focus on the current understanding of the pharmacodynamics (PD) and pharmacokinetics (PK) of MSCs as key aspects to overcome unsatisfactory clinical benefits of MSC application. Beginning with evidence of MSC biodistribution and highlighting PK and PD factors, a new PK-PD model is also proposed. According to this theory, MSCs and their released factors are key players in PK, and the efficacy biomarkers are considered relevant for PD in more predictive preclinical investigations. Accounting for the PK-PD relationship in MSC translational research and proposing new models combined with better biodistribution studies could allow realization of the promise of more robust MSC clinical translation.

Pharmacological characterization of a highly selective Rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitor and its therapeutic effects in experimental pulmonary hypertension.

Studies on the role of Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) in experimental pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) relies mainly on the use of pharmacological inhibitors. However, interpreting these data is hampered by the lack of specificity of commonly utilized inhibitors. To fill this gap, we have selected and characterized a novel ROCK inhibitor, Compound 3, previously described in a patent. Inhibitory potency of Compound 3 against enzymatic activity of ROCK-1 and 2 (IC50 = 10 ±â€¯3.1 and 7.8 ±â€¯0.5 nM, respectively) was accompanied by a strong vasodilating effect in phenylephrine pre-contracted isolated rat pulmonary artery rings (IC50 = 51.7 ±â€¯9.1 nM) as well as in aortic rings (IC50 = 45.5 ±â€¯1.1 nM). Compound 3 showed a remarkable selectivity towards ROCK 1 and 2 when tested against a large panel (>400) of human kinases. A partial explanation for its selectivity is provided from docking simulations within ROCK-1. Pharmacokinetic studies showed that Compound 3 is suitable for a twice daily administration without significant accumulation upon repeated dosing. In rats with monocrotaline (MCT)-induced pulmonary hypertension, therapy with Compound 3, (1 and 3 mg/kg, s.c., b.i.d.), started 14 days after induction of the disease, attenuated right ventricle systolic pressure (RVSP) increase. Morphometric histological analysis showed that Compound 3, at both doses, counteracted MCT-induced medial thickening of lung distal arterioles with an effect comparable to macitentan (10 mg/kg, p.o., q.d.). Compound 3 is a potent and highly selective ROCK inhibitor that ameliorates hemodynamic parameters and counteracts pulmonary vascular remodeling in experimental PAH.

Building in-house PBPK modelling tools for oral drug administration from literature information.

The interest in using physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) models as a support to the drug development decision making process has rapidly increased in the last years. These kind of models are examples of the "bottom up" modelling strategy, which progressively integrates into a mechanistic framework different information as soon as they become available along the drug development. For this reason PBPK models can be used with different aims, from the early stages of drug development up to the clinical phases. Different software tools are nowadays available. They can be categorized in "designed software" and "open software". The first ones typically include commercial platforms expressly designed to implement PBPK models, in which the model structure is pre-defined, assumptions are generally not explicitly declared and equations are hidden to the user. Even if the software is validated and routinely used in the pharmaceutical industry, sometimes they do not allow working with the flexibility needed to cope with specific applications/tasks. For this reason, some scientists prefer to define and implement their own PBPK tool in "open" software. This paper shows how to build an in-house PBPK tool from species-related physiological information available in the literature and a limited number of drug specific parameters generally made available by the drug development process. It also reports the results of an evaluation exercise that compares simulated plasma concentration-time profiles and related pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters (i.e., AUC, Cmax and Tmax) with literature and in-house data. This evaluation involved 25 drugs with different physico-chemical properties, intravenously or orally administrated in three different species (i.e., rat, dog and man). The comparison shows that model predictions have a good degree of accuracy, since the average fold error for all the considered PK parameters is close to 1 and only in few cases the fold error is greater than 2. In summary, the paper demonstrates that addressing specific aims when needed is possible by creation of in-house PBPK tools with satisfactory performances and it provides some suggestions how to do that.

Functional magnetic resonance imaging reveals different neural substrates for the effects of orexin-1 and orexin-2 receptor antagonists.

Orexins are neuro-modulatory peptides involved in the control of diverse physiological functions through interaction with two receptors, orexin-1 (OX1R) and orexin-2 (OX2R). Recent evidence in pre-clinical models points toward a putative dichotomic role of the two receptors, with OX2R predominantly involved in the regulation of the sleep/wake cycle and arousal, and the OX1R being more specifically involved in reward processing and motivated behaviour. However, the specific neural substrates underlying these distinct processes in the rat brain remain to be elucidated. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the rat to map the modulatory effect of selective OXR blockade on the functional response produced by D-amphetamine, a psychostimulant and arousing drug that stimulates orexigenic activity. OXR blockade was produced by GSK1059865 and JNJ1037049, two novel OX1R and OX2R antagonists with unprecedented selectivity at the counter receptor type. Both drugs inhibited the functional response to D-amphetamine albeit with distinct neuroanatomical patterns: GSK1059865 focally modulated functional responses in striatal terminals, whereas JNJ1037049 induced a widespread pattern of attenuation characterised by a prominent cortical involvement. At the same doses tested in the fMRI study, JNJ1037049 exhibited robust hypnotic properties, while GSK1059865 failed to display significant sleep-promoting effects, but significantly reduced drug-seeking behaviour in cocaine-induced conditioned place preference. Collectively, these findings highlight an essential contribution of the OX2R in modulating cortical activity and arousal, an effect that is consistent with the robust hypnotic effect exhibited by JNJ1037049. The subcortical and striatal pattern observed with GSK1059865 represent a possible neurofunctional correlate for the modulatory role of OX1R in controlling reward-processing and goal-oriented behaviours in the rat.

Development and validation of a high-throughput method for the quantitative analysis of D-amphetamine in rat blood using liquid chromatography/MS3 on a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer and its application to a pharmacokinetic study.

Amphetamines are a group of sympathomimetic drugs that exhibit strong central nervous system stimulant effects. D-Amphetamine ((+)-alpha-methylphenetylamine) is the parent drug in this class to which all others are structurally related. In drug discovery, d-amphetamine is extensively used either for the exploration of novel mechanisms involving the catecholaminergic system, or for the validation of new behavioural animal models. Due to this extensive use of D-amphetamine in drug research and its interest in toxicologic-forensic investigation, a specific and high-throughput method, with minimal sample preparation, is necessary for routine analysis of D-amphetamine in biological samples. We propose here a sensitive, specific and high-throughput bioanalytical method for the quantitative determination of D-amphetamine in rat blood using MS(3) scan mode on a hybrid triple quadrupole-linear ion trap mass spectrometer (LC-MS/MS/MS). Blood samples, following dilution with water, were prepared by fully automated protein precipitation with acetonitrile containing an internal standard. The chromatographic separation was achieved on a Waters XTerra C18 column (2.1mm x 30mm, 3.5microm) using gradient elution at a flow rate of 1.0mL/min over a 2min run time. An Applied Biosystems API4000 QTRAP mass spectrometer equipped with turbo ion-spray ionization source was operated simultaneously in MS(3) scan mode for the d-amphetamine and in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) for the internal standard. The MS/MS/MS ion transition monitored was m/z 136.1-->119.1-->91.1 for the quantitation of d-amphetamine and for the internal standard (rolipram) the MS/MS ion transition monitored was m/z 276.1-->208.2. The linear dynamic range was established over the concentration range 0.5-1000ng/mL (r(2)=0.9991). The method was rugged and sensitive with a lower limit of quantification (LLOQ) of 0.5ng/mL. All the validation data, such as accuracy, precision, and inter-day repeatability, were within the required limits. This method was successfully applied to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of d-amphetamine in rat. On a more general extent, this work demonstrated that the selectivity of the fragmentation pathway (MS(3)) can be used as alternative approach to significantly improve detection capability in complex situation (e.g., small molecules in complex matrices) rather than increasing time for sample preparation and chromatographic separation.

In vivo rat PK profiling in drug discovery: new challenges.

The importance of evaluating drug metabolism and pharmacokinetic (DMPK) properties very early in the drug discovery process in order to reduce attrition during development is now well recognised. In this paper we illustrate an approach for PK screening that provides a range of parameters that would not be available from conventional PK profiling. In combination with an assessment of physicochemical and in vitro properties, the in vivo PK protocol described provides better mechanistic understanding of the PK behaviour of a compound or class of compounds. The higher level of interpretation and use of in vitro and in vivo data better describe the disposition properties and give an estimation of the biophase concentration of the drug, providing a clear guidance for the design of higher quality molecules. Moreover, the collection of a broader set of in vivo and in vitro PK data improves the predictability of the DMPK science and it can allow an integrated safety risk assessment.