Discovery of a Potent and Orally Bioavailable Zwitterionic Series of Selective Estrogen Receptor Degrader-Antagonists.
Scott, J.S., Stead, D., Barlaam, B., Breed, J., Carbajo, R.J., Chiarparin, E., Cureton, N., Davey, P.R.J., Fisher, D.I., Gangl, E.T., Grebe, T., Greenwood, R.D., Hande, S., Hatoum-Mokdad, H., Hughes, S.J., Hunt, T.A., Johnson, T., Kavanagh, S.L., Klinowska, T.C.M., Larner, C.J.B., Lawson, M., Lister, A.S., Longmire, D., Marden, S., McGuire, T.M., McMillan, C., McMurray, L., Morrow, C.J., Nissink, J.W.M., Moss, T.A., O'Donovan, D.H., Polanski, R., Stokes, S., Thakur, K., Trueman, D., Truman, C., Tucker, M.J., Wang, H., Whalley, N., Wu, D., Wu, Y., Yang, B., Yang, W.(2023) J Med Chem 66: 2918-2945
- PubMed: 36727211 
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jmedchem.2c01964
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:  
7QVJ, 7QVL - PubMed Abstract: 
Herein, we report the optimization of a meta-substituted series of selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) antagonists for the treatment of ER+ breast cancer. Structure-based design together with the use of modeling and NMR to favor the bioactive conformation led to a highly potent series of basic SERDs with promising physicochemical properties. Issues with hERG activity resulted in a strategy of zwitterion formation and ultimately in the identification of 38 . This compound was shown to be a highly potent SERD capable of effectively degrading ERα in both MCF-7 and CAMA-1 cell lines. The low lipophilicity and zwitterionic nature led to a SERD with a clean secondary pharmacology profile and no hERG activity. Favorable physicochemical properties resulted in good oral bioavailability in preclinical species and potent in vivo activity in a mouse xenograft model.
Organizational Affiliation: 
Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, Cambridge CB4 0WG, United Kingdom.