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Bege M, Borbás A. The Design, Synthesis and Mechanism of Action of Paxlovid, a Protease Inhibitor Drug Combination for the Treatment of COVID-19. Pharmaceutics 2024; 16:217. [PMID: 38399271 PMCID: PMC10891713 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics16020217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2024] [Revised: 01/26/2024] [Accepted: 01/31/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has presented an enormous challenge to health care systems and medicine. As a result of global research efforts aimed at preventing and effectively treating SARS-CoV-2 infection, vaccines with fundamentally new mechanisms of action and some small-molecule antiviral drugs targeting key proteins in the viral cycle have been developed. The most effective small-molecule drug approved to date for the treatment of COVID-19 is PaxlovidTM, which is a combination of two protease inhibitors, nirmatrelvir and ritonavir. Nirmatrelvir is a reversible covalent peptidomimetic inhibitor of the main protease (Mpro) of SARS-CoV-2, which enzyme plays a crucial role in viral reproduction. In this combination, ritonavir serves as a pharmacokinetic enhancer, it irreversibly inhibits the cytochrome CYP3A4 enzyme responsible for the rapid metabolism of nirmatrelvir, thereby increasing the half-life and bioavailability of nirmatrelvir. In this tutorial review, we summarize the development and pharmaceutical chemistry aspects of Paxlovid, covering the evolution of protease inhibitors, the warhead design, synthesis and the mechanism of action of nirmatrelvir, as well as the synthesis of ritonavir and its CYP3A4 inhibition mechanism. The efficacy of Paxlovid to novel virus mutants is also overviewed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miklós Bege
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary;
- HUN-REN-DE Molecular Recognition and Interaction Research Group, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
- Institute of Healthcare Industry, University of Debrecen, Nagyerdei krt 98, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Anikó Borbás
- Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary;
- HUN-REN-DE Molecular Recognition and Interaction Research Group, University of Debrecen, Egyetem tér 1, 4032 Debrecen, Hungary
- National Laboratory of Virology, University of Pécs, Ifjúság útja 20, 7624 Pécs, Hungary
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Mehta NV, Degani MS. The expanding repertoire of covalent warheads for drug discovery. Drug Discov Today 2023; 28:103799. [PMID: 37839776 DOI: 10.1016/j.drudis.2023.103799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2023] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
The reactive functionalities of drugs that engage in covalent interactions with the enzyme/receptor residue in either a reversible or an irreversible manner are called 'warheads'. Covalent warheads that were previously neglected because of safety concerns have recently gained center stage as a result of their various advantages over noncovalent drugs, including increased selectivity, increased residence time, and higher potency. With the approval of several covalent inhibitors over the past decade, research in this area has accelerated. Various strategies are being continuously developed to tune the characteristics of warheads to improve their potency and mitigate toxicity. Here, we review research progress in warhead discovery over the past 5 years to provide valuable insights for future drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Namrashee V Mehta
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, India.
| | - Mariam S Degani
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Nathalal Parekh Marg, Matunga, Mumbai 400019, Maharashtra, India.
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Petri L, Ábrányi-Balogh P, Csorba N, Keeley A, Simon J, Ranđelović I, Tóvári J, Schlosser G, Szabó D, Drahos L, Keserű GM. Activation-Free Sulfonyl Fluoride Probes for Fragment Screening. Molecules 2023; 28:molecules28073042. [PMID: 37049805 PMCID: PMC10096327 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28073042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 03/26/2023] [Accepted: 03/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023] Open
Abstract
SuFEx chemistry is based on the unique reactivity of the sulfonyl fluoride group with a range of nucleophiles. Accordingly, sulfonyl fluorides label multiple nucleophilic amino acid residues, making these reagents popular in both chemical biology and medicinal chemistry applications. The reactivity of sulfonyl fluorides nominates this warhead chemotype as a candidate for an external, activation-free general labelling tag. Here, we report the synthesis and characterization of a small sulfonyl fluoride library that yielded the 3-carboxybenzenesulfonyl fluoride warhead for tagging tractable targets at nucleophilic residues. Based on these results, we propose that coupling diverse fragments to this warhead would result in a library of sulfonyl fluoride bits (SuFBits), available for screening against protein targets. SuFBits will label the target if it binds to the core fragment, which facilitates the identification of weak fragments by mass spectrometry.
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Affiliation(s)
- László Petri
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Drug Research and Development, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter Ábrányi-Balogh
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Drug Research and Development, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szent Gellért tér 4, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Noémi Csorba
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Drug Research and Development, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szent Gellért tér 4, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Aaron Keeley
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - József Simon
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- Research Centre for Natural Sciences, MS Metabolomics Research Group, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | | | - József Tóvári
- Department of Experimental Pharmacology and National Tumor Biology Laboratory POB 21, National Institute of Oncology, 1525 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gitta Schlosser
- MTA-ELTE Lendület Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry Research Group, Institute of Chemistry, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter Sétány 1/A, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Dániel Szabó
- MS Proteomics Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - László Drahos
- MS Proteomics Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
| | - György M Keserű
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- National Laboratory for Drug Research and Development, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Magyar Tudósok Krt. 2, 1117 Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Organic Chemistry and Technology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Szent Gellért tér 4, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
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McAulay K, Bilsland A, Bon M. Reactivity of Covalent Fragments and Their Role in Fragment Based Drug Discovery. Pharmaceuticals (Basel) 2022; 15:1366. [PMID: 36355538 PMCID: PMC9694498 DOI: 10.3390/ph15111366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 10/30/2022] [Accepted: 11/04/2022] [Indexed: 09/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Fragment based drug discovery has long been used for the identification of new ligands and interest in targeted covalent inhibitors has continued to grow in recent years, with high profile drugs such as osimertinib and sotorasib gaining FDA approval. It is therefore unsurprising that covalent fragment-based approaches have become popular and have recently led to the identification of novel targets and binding sites, as well as ligands for targets previously thought to be 'undruggable'. Understanding the properties of such covalent fragments is important, and characterizing and/or predicting reactivity can be highly useful. This review aims to discuss the requirements for an electrophilic fragment library and the importance of differing warhead reactivity. Successful case studies from the world of drug discovery are then be examined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kirsten McAulay
- Cancer Research Horizons—Therapeutic Innovation, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Glasgow G61 1BD, UK
- Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation, University of Dundee, Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4HN, UK
| | - Alan Bilsland
- Cancer Research Horizons—Therapeutic Innovation, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Glasgow G61 1BD, UK
| | - Marta Bon
- Cancer Research Horizons—Therapeutic Innovation, Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute, Garscube Estate, Switchback Road, Glasgow G61 1BD, UK
- Exscientia, The Schrödinger Building, Oxford Science Park, Oxford OX4 4GE, UK
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION Covalent drugs have been used for more than hundred years, but gathered larger interest in the last two decades. There are currently over a 100 different electrophilic warheads used in covalent ligands, and there are several considerations tailoring their reactivity against the target of interest, which is still a challenging task. AREAS COVERED This review aims to give an overview of electrophilic warheads used for protein labeling in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry. The warheads are discussed by targeted residues, mechanism and selectivity, and analyzed through three different datasets including our collection of warheads, the CovPDB database, and the FDA approved covalent drugs. Moreover, the authors summarize general practices that facilitate the selection of the appropriate warhead for the target of interest. EXPERT OPINION In spite of the numerous electrophilic warheads, only a fraction of them is used in current drug discovery projects. Recent studies identified new tractable residues by applying a wider array of warhead chemistries. However, versatile, selective warheads are not available for all targetable amino acids, hence discovery of new warheads for these residues is needed. Broadening the toolbox of the warheads could result in novel inhibitors even for challenging targets developing with significant therapeutic potential.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nikolett Péczka
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Zoltán Orgován
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Péter Ábrányi-Balogh
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
| | - György Miklós Keserű
- Medicinal Chemistry Research Group, Research Centre for Natural Sciences, Budapest, Hungary
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