Discovery of novel pyridyl carboxamides as potent CCR5 antagonists and optimization of their pharmacokinetic profile in rats

A novel series of pyridyl carboxamide-based CCR5 inhibitors was designed, synthesized, and demonstrated to be highly potent against HIV-1 infection in both HOS and PBL assays. Attempts to evaluate this series of compounds in a rat PK model revealed its instability in rat plasma. A hypothesis for this liability was proposed, and strategies to overcome this issue were pursued, leading to discovery of highly potent 40 and 41, which featured dramatically improved rat PK profiles.