Apoptosis is a cellular process critical to the normal development and homeostasis of multicellular organisms. The inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) are a class of key apoptosis regulators. IAP proteins are attractive cancer therapeutic targets. SM-406 (compound 2) is a potent and orally bioavailable antagonist of the IAPs. Pharmacokinetic (PK) studies of SM-406 (compound 2) in male Sprague Dawley rats, beagle dogs and cynomolgus monkeys (non-human primates) were performed by the Division of Pharmacokinetics and Metabolism, Medicilon. SM-406 (compound 2) has an excellent PK profile and good oral bioavailability in each of these four species.

Gastric cancer is the second most lethal cancer across the world. Compounds 8f, inhibits FGFR1 signaling pathways as well as induces cell apoptosis, is a potential agent for the treatment of gastric cancer. The pharmacokinetical profile (PK) of 8f was tested in SD rats. Compound 8f showed an acceptable half-time of 3 h and displayed moderate maximum concentrations, which is enough to meet the concentration of the compound 8f to exert its efficacy in vivo. The pharmacokinetic analysis was performed by the testing service provided by Medicilon.

Epigenetic modification, like DNA methylation, plays a major role in the expression of genetic information. The DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs), maintain DNA methylation, is an attractive target for tumor chemotherapy. WK-23 displays a good inhibitory effect on human DNMT1 with an IC50 value of 5.0 µM. The PK profile of WK-23 was obtained with quite satisfying oral bioavailability and elimination half-life. In vivo pharmacokinetic properties of WK-22, WK-23, WK-27, and DC_517 were performed by Medicilon.

Fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (FBPase) is a promising target associated with cancer and type 2 diabetes. Compounds W8 and W8k exhibit high selectivity against FBPase and W8 effectively reduces blood glucose in an Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice model and dose-dependent inhibition of glucose production in a primary mouse hepatocyte model. The pharmacokinetic studies of W8 and its leaving group saccharin were performed by Medicilon.

Scaffold hopping refers to computer-aided screening for active compounds with different structures against the same receptor to enrich privileged scaffolds, which is a topic of high interest in organic and medicinal chemistry. One of the biggest challenges in drug discovery is to identify high-quality hit and lead compounds. Lead L12 had an IC50 of 8.7 nM and exhibited a different binding pattern in its crystal structure with PDE5 from the famous starting drug tadalafil, and PK results indicate that L12 could be used as a promising lead for further development. Pharmacokinetic properties of L12 were analyzed by Medicilon.

Current pain management is largely limited to opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Developing new analgesic drugs remains important to address the unmet medical needs of chronic pain patients. Calcium-activated chloride channel anoctamin-1 (ANO1) is a potential analgesic target. DFBTA is a potent inhibitor with the IC50 of 24 nM. DFBTA shows very weak cytotoxicity, cardiotoxicity, and acute toxicity, as well as excellent pharmacokinetics properties with oral bioavailability >75% and little brain penetration (<1.5% brain/plasma). In vivo PK were tested by Medicilon.

Pan-bromodomain and extra terminal (Pan-BET) inhibitors show profound efficacy but exhibit pharmacology-driven toxicities in clinical trials. The representative Compound 8l (XY153), a novel BD2-selective BET inhibitor, potently binds to BRD4 BD2 with an IC50 value of 0.79 nM. XY153 displayed potent antiproliferative activity against multiple tumor cell lines. XY153 also demonstrated good metabolic stability in vitro. These data indicate that XY153 may serve as a new and valuable lead compound for the development of potential therapeutics against acute myeloid leukemia (AML). All liver microsome assays were performed by Medicilon.

Y180, an orally available Mpro inhibitor, is effective against wild-type SARS-CoV-2 and variants. Y180 displayed satisfying PK properties in mice, rats and dogs, with oral bioavailabilities of 92.9%, 31.9% and 85.7%, respectively. The in vivo PK properties of Y180 were evaluated. All procedures related to animal handling, care and treatment in PK studies were performed according to approved guidelines. The PK studies were approved by the Ethics Committee of Medicilon.

Ulotaront (SEP-363856) is a TAAR1 agonist with 5-HT1A agonist activity currently in clinical development for the treatment of Schizophrenia. Ulotaront exhibits rapid absorption, greater than 70% bioavailability, and good penetration across the blood–brain barrier in preclinical species. The distribution of Ulotaront to rat brain was conducted at Medicilon/MPI Preclinical Research. Ulotaront monkey plasma PK was conducted at Medicilon/MPI Preclinical Research.

Biofouling poses one of the most serious problems to marine industry and aquaculture development. Five structurally similar compounds were isolated from the crude extract of a marine Streptomyces strain. Antifouling activities of these compounds and four other structurally-related compounds isolated from another marine Streptomyces species were compared to generate structure–activity relationship data. Based on structure–activity relationship analysis, another compound with a simplified structure but excellent antifouling activities was synthesized. The optimized compound was synthesized by Medicilon.