Dual 5-HT and 5-HT Receptor Inverse Agonist That Affords In Vivo Antipsychotic Efficacy with Minimal hERG Inhibition for the Treatment of Dementia-Related Psychosis.

Psychosis is a distressing symptom commonly occurring in people with dementia. To treat Parkinson's disease psychosis, pimavanserin (), a 5-HT receptor inverse agonist having minimal 5-HT receptor affinity and no dopamine D receptor affinity, was approved in the United States, but not for dementia-related psychosis due to limited efficacy issues. Herein, we report on the identification of a potent and dual 5-HT and 5-HT receptor inverse agonist having minimal hERG inhibition, after having demonstrated the involvement of both 5-HT and 5-HT receptors to deliver antipsychotic efficacy in an MK-801-induced locomotor model and having conducted 5-HT and 5-HT occupancy studies including a surrogate method.

Development of a Manufacturing Process toward the Convergent Synthesis of the COVID-19 Antiviral Ensitrelvir.

We describe the development of the practical manufacturing of Ensitrelvir, which was discovered as a SARS-CoV-2 antiviral candidate. Scalable synthetic methods of indazole, 1,2,4-triazole and 1,3,5-triazinone structures were established, and convergent couplings of these fragments enabled the development of a concise and efficient scale-up process to Ensitrelvir. In this process, introducing a -cresolyl moiety successfully enhanced the stability of intermediates.

Discovery of S-217622, a Noncovalent Oral SARS-CoV-2 3CL Protease Inhibitor Clinical Candidate for Treating COVID-19.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has resulted in millions of deaths and threatens public health and safety. Despite the rapid global spread of COVID-19 vaccines, effective oral antiviral drugs are urgently needed. Here, we describe the discovery of , the first oral noncovalent, nonpeptidic SARS-CoV-2 3CL protease inhibitor clinical candidate.