Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Designated organic active ingredient containing – Having -c- – wherein x is chalcogen – bonded directly to...
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-07
2004-06-29
Shah, Mukund J. (Department: 1624)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Designated organic active ingredient containing
Having -c-, wherein x is chalcogen, bonded directly to...
C514S183000, C514S357000, C514S358000, C546S244000, C546S246000, C546S248000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06756393
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to novel compounds that affect monoamine receptors, including serotonin receptors. The invention specifically provides compounds that are active as inverse agonists, and therefore also as antagonists, at the 5-HT2A subtype of human serotonin receptors. The invention also provides methods, utilizing the compounds of the invention for modulating 5-HT2A receptor-mediated events, that are useful for treating or alleviating disease conditions in which modification of the activity of these receptors is beneficial.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) plays a significant role in the functioning of the mammalian body. In the central nervous system, 5-HT is an important neurotransmitter and neuromodulator that is implicated in such diverse behaviors and responses as sleeping, eating, locomotion, perceiving pain, learning and memory, sexual behavior, controlling body temperature and blood pressure. In the spinal column, serotonin plays an important role in the control systems of the afferent peripheral nociceptors (Moulignier,
Rev. Neurol
. 150:3-15, (1994)). Peripheral functions in the cardiovascular, hematological and gastrointestinal systems have also been ascribed to 5-HT. 5-HT has been found to mediate a variety of contractile, secretory, and electrophysiologic effects including vascular and nonvascular smooth muscle contraction, and platelet aggregation. (Fuller,
Biology of Serotonergic Transmission
, 1982; Boullin,
Serotonin In Mental Abnormalities
1:316 (1978); Barchas, et al.,
Serotonin and Behavior
, (1973)). The 5-HT2A receptor subtype (also referred to as subclass) is widely yet discretely expressed in the human brain, including many cortical, limbic, and forebrain regions postulated to be involved in the modulation of higher cognitive and affective functions. This receptor subtype is also expressed on mature platelets where it mediates, in part, platelet aggregation, one of the initial steps in the process of vascular thrombosis.
Given the broad distribution of serotonin within the body, it is understandable that tremendous interest in drugs that affect serotonergic systems exists (Gershon, et al.,
The Peripheral Actions of
5-
Hydroxytryptamine
, 246 (1989); Saxena, et al.,
J. Cardiovascular Pharmacol
. 15: Supp. 7 (1990)). Serotonin receptors are members of a large human gene family of membrane-spanning proteins that function as transducers of intercellular communication. They exist on the surface of various cell types, including neurons and platelets, where, upon their activation by either their endogenous ligand serotonin or exogenously administered drugs, they change their conformational structure and subsequently interact with downstream mediators of cellular signaling. Many of these receptors, including the 5-HT2A subclass, are G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) that signal by activating guanine nucleotide binding proteins (G-proteins), resulting in the generation, or inhibition of, second messenger molecules such as cyclic AMP, inositol phosphates, and diacylglycerol. These second messengers then modulate the function of a variety of intracellular enzymes, including kinases and ion channels, which ultimately affect cellular excitability and function.
At least 15 genetically distinct 5-HT receptor subtypes have been identified and assigned to one of seven families (5-HT1-7). Each subtype displays a unique distribution, preference for various ligands, and functional correlate(s).
Serotonin may be an important component in various types of pathological conditions such as certain psychiatric disorders (depression, aggressiveness, panic attacks, obsessive compulsive disorders, psychosis, schizophrenia, suicidal tendency), certain neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer-type dementia, Parkinsonism, Huntington's chorea), anorexia, bulimia, disorders associated with alcoholism, cerebral vascular accidents, and migraine (Meltzer,
Neuropsychopharmacology
, 21:106S-115S (1999); Barnes & Sharp,
Neuropharmacology
, 38:1083-1152 (1999); Glennon,
Neurosci. Biobehavioral Rev
., 14:35 (1990)). Recent evidence strongly implicates the 5-HT2 receptor subtype in the etiology of such medical conditions as hypertension, thrombosis, migraine, vasospasm, ischemia, depression, anxiety, psychosis, schizophrenia, sleep disorders and appetite disorders.
Schizophrenia is a particularly devastating neuropsychiatric disorder that affects approximately 1% of the human population. It has been estimated that the total financial cost for the diagnosis, treatment, and lost societal productivity of individuals affected by this disease exceeds 2% of the gross national product (GNP) of the United States. Current treatment primarily involves pharmacotherapy with a class of drugs known as antipsychotics. Antipsychotics are effective in ameliorating positive symptoms (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), yet they frequently do not improve negative symptoms (e.g., social and emotional withdrawal, apathy, and poverty of speech).
Currently, nine major classes of antipsychotics are prescribed to treat psychotic symptoms. Use of these compounds is limited, however, by their side effect profiles. Nearly all of the “typical” or older generation compounds have significant adverse effects on human motor function. These “extrapyramidal” side effects, so termed due to their effects on modulatory human motor systems, can be both acute (e.g., dystonic reactions, a potentially life threatening but rare neuroleptic malignant syndrome) and chronic (e.g., akathisias, tremors, and tardive dyskinesia). Drug development efforts have, therefore, focused on newer “atypical” agents free of these adverse effects.
Antipsychotic drugs have been shown to interact with a large number of central monoaminergic neurotransmitter receptors, including dopaminergic, serotonergic, adrenergic, muscarinic, and histaminergic receptors. It is likely that the therapeutic and adverse effects of these drugs are mediated by distinct receptor subtypes. The high degree of genetic and pharmacological homology between these receptor subtypes has hampered the development of subtype-selective compounds, as well as the determination of the normal physiologic or pathophysiologic role of any particular receptor subtype. Thus there is a need to develop drugs that are selective for individual receptor classes and subclasses amongst monoaminergic neurotransmitter receptors.
The prevailing theory for the mechanism of action of antipsychotic drugs involves antagonism of dopamine D2 receptors. Unfortunately, it is likely that antagonism of dopamine D2 receptors also mediates the extrapyramidal side effects. Antagonism of 5-HT2A is an alternate molecular mechanism for drugs with antipsychotic efficacy, possibly through antagonism of heightened or exaggerated signal transduction through serotonergic systems. 5-HT2A antagonists are therefore good candidates for treating psychosis without extrapyramidal side effects.
Traditionally, these receptors have been assumed to exist in a quiescent state unless activated by the binding of an agonist (a drug that activates a receptor). It is now appreciated that many, if not most, of the GPCR monoamine receptors, including serotonin receptors, can exist in a partially activated state in the absence of their endogenous agonists. This increased basal activity (constitutive activity) can be inhibited by compounds called inverse agonists. Both agonists and inverse agonists possess intrinsic activity at a receptor, in that they alone can activate or inactivate these molecules, respectively. In contrast, classic or neutral antagonists compete against agonists and inverse agonists for access to the receptor, but do not possess the intrinsic ability to inhibit elevated basal or constitutive receptor responses.
We have recently elucidated an important aspect of 5-HT2A receptor function by applying the Receptor Selection and Amplification Technology (U.S. Pat. No. 5,707,798, 1998
; Chem Abstr
. 128:111548 (1998) and citations therein), to the
Andersson Carl-Magnus A.
Croston Glenn
Hansen Eva L.
Uldam Allan Kjaersgaard
Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear LLP
Patel Sudhaker B.
Shah Mukund J.
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