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Lipophilicity is one of the molecular properties assessed in early drug discovery. Direct measurement of the octanol-water distribution coefficient (logD) requires an analytical method with a large dynamic range or multistep dilutions, as the analyte's concentrations span across several orders of magnitude. In addition, water/buffer and octanol phases which have very different polarity could lead to matrix effects and affect the LC-MS response, leading to erroneous logD values. Most compound libraries use DMSO stocks as it greatly reduces the sample requirement but the presence of DMSO has been shown to underestimate the lipophilicity of the analyte. The present work describes the development of an optimised shake flask logD method using deepwell 96 well plate that addresses the issues related to matrix effects, DMSO concentration and incubation conditions and is also amenable to high throughput. Our results indicate that the equilibrium can be achieved within 30min by flipping the plate on its side while even 0.5% of DMSO is not tolerated in the assay. This study uses the matched matrix concept to minimise the errors in analysing the two phases namely buffer and octanol in LC-MS.

We report the discovery of benzothiazoles, a novel anti-mycobacterial series, identified from a whole cell based screening campaign. Benzothiazoles exert their bactericidal activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) through potent inhibition of decaprenylphosphoryl-β-d-ribose 2'-oxidase (DprE1), the key enzyme involved in arabinogalactan synthesis. Specific target linkage and mode of binding were established using co-crystallization and protein mass spectrometry studies. Most importantly, the current study provides insights on the utilization of systematic medicinal chemistry approaches to mitigate safety liabilities while improving potency during progression from an initial genotoxic hit, the benzothiazole N-oxides (BTOs) to the lead-like AMES negative, crowded benzothiazoles (cBTs). These findings offer opportunities for development of safe clinical candidates against tuberculosis. The design strategy adopted could find potential application in discovery of safe drugs in other therapy areas too.

Diarylthiazole (DAT), a hit from diversity screening, was found to have potent antimycobacterial activity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). In a systematic medicinal chemistry exploration, we demonstrated chemical opportunities to optimize the potency and physicochemical properties. The effort led to more than 10 compounds with submicromolar MICs and desirable physicochemical properties. The potent antimycobacterial activity, in conjunction with low molecular weight, made the series an attractive lead (antibacterial ligand efficiency (ALE)>0.4). The series exhibited excellent bactericidal activity and was active against drug-sensitive and resistant Mtb. Mutational analysis showed that mutations in prrB impart resistance to DAT compounds but not to reference drugs tested. The sensor kinase PrrB belongs to the PrrBA two component system and is potentially the target for DAT. PrrBA is a conserved, essential regulatory mechanism in Mtb and has been shown to have a role in virulence and metabolic adaptation to stress. Hence, DATs provide an opportunity to understand a completely new target system for antimycobacterial drug discovery.

A pharmacophore-based search led to the identification of thiazolopyridine ureas as a novel scaffold with antitubercular activity acting through inhibition of DNA Gyrase B (GyrB) ATPase. Evaluation of the binding mode of thiazolopyridines in a Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) GyrB homology model prompted exploration of the side chains at the thiazolopyridine ring C-5 position to access the ribose/solvent pocket. Potent compounds with GyrB IC50 ≤ 1 nM and Mtb MIC ≤ 0.1 μM were obtained with certain combinations of side chains at the C-5 position and heterocycles at the C-6 position of the thiazolopyridine core. Substitutions at C-5 also enabled optimization of the physicochemical properties. Representative compounds were cocrystallized with Streptococcus pneumoniae (Spn) ParE; these confirmed the binding modes predicted by the homology model. The target link to GyrB was confirmed by genetic mapping of the mutations conferring resistance to thiazolopyridine ureas. The compounds are bactericidal in vitro and efficacious in vivo in an acute murine model of tuberculosis.

We describe a rapid screening methodology for performing pharmacokinetic (PK) studies in mice called Fast PK. In this Fast PK method, two mice were used per compound and four blood samples were collected from each mouse. The sampling times were staggered (sparse sampling) between the two mice, thus yielding complete PK profile in singlicate across eight time points. The plasma PK parameters from Fast PK were comparable to that obtained from conventional PK methods. This method has been used to rapidly screen compounds in the early stages of drug discovery and about 600 compounds have been profiled in the last 3 years, which has resulted in reduction in the usage of mice by 800 per year in compliance with the 3R principles of animal ethics. In addition, this Fast PK method can also help in evaluating the PK parameters from the same set of animals used in safety/toxicology/efficacy studies without the need for satellite groups.