Discovery of Sovleplenib, a Selective Inhibitor of Syk in Clinical Development for Autoimmune Diseases and Cancers

Herein we describe the medicinal chemistry efforts that led to the discovery of the clinical-staged Syk inhibitor sovleplenib (41) via a structure–activity relationship investigation and pharmacokinetics (PK) optimization of a pyrido[3,4-b]pyrazine scaffold. Sovleplenib is a potent and selective Syk inhibitor with favorable preclinical PK profiles and robust anti-inflammation efficacy in a preclinical collagen-induced arthritis model. Sovleplenib is now being developed for treating autoimmune diseases such as immune thrombocytopenic purpura and warm antibody hemolytic anemia as well as hematological malignancies.