MGAT2
inhibition is a potential therapeutic approach for the treatment
of metabolic disorders. High-throughput screening of the BMS internal
compound collection identified the aryl dihydropyridinone compound 1 (hMGAT2 IC50 = 175 nM) as a hit. Compound 1 had moderate potency against human MGAT2, was inactive vs
mouse MGAT2 and had poor microsomal metabolic stability. A novel chemistry
route was developed to synthesize aryl dihydropyridinone analogs to
explore structure–activity relationship around this hit, leading
to the discovery of potent and selective MGAT2 inhibitors 21f, 21s, and 28e that are stable to liver
microsomal metabolism. After triaging out 21f due to
its inferior in vivo potency, pharmacokinetics, and
structure-based liabilities and tetrazole 28e due to
its inferior channel liability profile, 21s (BMS-963272)
was selected as the clinical candidate following demonstration of
on-target weight loss efficacy in the diet-induced obese mouse model
and an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in multiple preclinical
species.