Development of the Synthetic Route to PF-06878031 Part 2: Amide Reduction Route

The target compound PF-06878031 is a key structural fragment of a range of oral late-stage glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1-RA) under development in our laboratories for the indications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and weight loss. This article describes the identification of an amide reduction route, and development of a process, capable of delivering multikilo quantities of PF-06878031. The process development afforded improved safety, higher yield, a reduced step count, and a significant cost reduction. The new process has been scaled up at multiple facilities to generate >1.5MT of high-purity PF-06878031.