Professional Documents
Culture Documents
John K. Walker
*
, Shaun R. Selness, Rajesh V. Devraj, Michael E. Hepperle, Win Naing, Huey Shieh,
Ravi Kurambail, Syaulan Yang, Daniel L. Flynn, Alan G. Benson, Dean M. Messing, Tom Dice, Tina Kim,
R. J. Lindmark, Joseph B. Monahan, Joseph Portanova
Pzer Global Research and Development, Chestereld Parkway West, St. Louis, MO 63017, USA
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 12 January 2010
Revised 10 February 2010
Accepted 10 February 2010
Available online 14 February 2010
Dedicated to the memory of Joseph
Portanova a gifted scientist and valued
colleague.
Keywords:
p38 Kinase
Diaryl pyrazoles
Inhibitors
Rheumatoid arthritis
SD-0006
Tumor necrosis factor-a
a b s t r a c t
Starting from an initial HTS screening lead, a novel series of C(5)-substituted diaryl pyrazoles were devel-
oped that showed potent inhibition of p38a kinase. Key to this outcome was the switch from a pyridyl to
pyrimidine at the C(4)-position leading to analogs that were potent in human whole blood based cell
assay as well as in a number of animal efcacy models for rheumatoid arthritis. Ultimately, we identied
a clinical candidate from this substrate; SD-0006.
2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
The advent of biologic agents such as Enbrel
and Remicade