Discovery and SAR of orally efficacious tetrahydropyridopyridazinone PARP inhibitors for the treatment of cancer.

PARP-1, the most abundant member of the PARP superfamily of nuclear enzymes, has emerged as a promising molecular target in the past decade particularly for the treatment of cancer. A number of PARP-1 inhibitors, including veliparab discovered at Abbott, have advanced into different stages of clinical trials. Herein we describe the development of a new tetrahydropyridopyridazinone series of PARP-1 inhibitors. Many compounds in this class, such as 20w, displayed excellent potency against the PARP-1 enzyme with a K(i) value of <1nM and an EC(50) value of 1nM in a C41 whole cell assay. The presence of the NH in the tetrahydropyridyl ring of the tetrahydropyridopyridazinone scaffold improved the pharmacokinetic properties over similar carbon based analogs. Compounds 8c and 20u are orally available, and have demonstrated significant efficacy in a B16 murine xenograft model, potentiating the efficacy of temozolomide (TMZ).