Discovery of substituted 4-(pyrazol-4-yl)-phenylbenzodioxane-2-carboxamides as potent and highly selective Rho kinase (ROCK-II) inhibitors.

ABSTRACT

The identification of a new class of potent and selective ROCK-II inhibitors is presented. Compound 5 (SR-3677) had an IC 50 of approximately 3 nM in enzyme and cell based assays and had an off-target hit rate of 1.4% against 353 kinases, and inhibited only 3 out of 70 nonkinase enzymes and receptors. Pharmacology studies showed that 5 was efficacious in both, increasing ex vivo aqueous humor outflow in porcine eyes and inhibiting myosin light chain phosphorylation.