QAV-680 is a pyrrolopyridine derivative patented by Novartis Pharma GmbH as chemoattractant receptor (CRTh2) antagonist for the treatment of an inflammatory or allergic condition, particularly an inflammatory or obstructive airways disease. QAV-680 shows low nM potency and excellent selectivity across a range of CRTh2 dependent primary human inflammatory cell assays. In preclinical studies, QAV-680 shows good pharmacokinetic properties (including a suitable escalating dose–exposure relationship) in the rat and mouse and demonstrates efficacy in both mechanistic and allergic disease CRTh2-dependent rodent in vivo models. In 2008-2010 QAV-680 was tested in Phase 2 clinical trials but no further development reports were published.

GSK-2256294 is a potent, reversible, tight binding inhibitor of isolated recombinant human sEH (soluble epoxide hydrolase) (IC50 = 27 pM; t1/2 = 121 min) and displays potent inhibition against the rat (IC50 = 61 pM) and murine (IC50 = 189 pM) orthologs of sEH. GSK-2256294A also displays potent cellular inhibition (IC50 = 0.66 nM) of sEH in an assay developed using a cell line transfected with the human sEH enzyme. GSK-2256294 was well-tolerated and demonstrated sustained inhibition of sEH enzyme activity. These data support further investigation in patients with endothelial dysfunction or abnormal tissue repair, such as diabetes, wound healing or COPD. GSK-2256294 is in phase I clinical trials for the treatment of COPD.

HSP-990 is an oral Hsp90 inhibitor being developed by Novartis in a collaboration with Vernalis. It is also known by NVP-HSP990. HSP-990 is an inhibitor of human heat-shock protein 90 (Hsp90) with potential antineoplastic activity. Hsp-990 binds to and inhibits the activity of Hsp90, which may result in the proteasomal degradation of oncogenic client proteins, including HER2/ERBB2, and the inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. Hsp90, upregulated in a variety of tumor cells, is a molecular chaperone that plays a key role in the conformational maturation, stability and function of oncogenic signaling proteins, such as HER2/ERBB2, AKT, RAF1, BCR-ABL, and mutated p53, as well as many other molecules that are important in cell cycle regulation and/or immune responses.

HM-30181 is a highly selective and potent inhibitor of Multi-drug resistance 1 (MDR1, ABCB1), also known as P-glycoprotein (P-gp). Co-administration of HM30181 greatly increased oral bioavailability of tubulin-stabilizing chemotherapeutic agent paclitaxel. Oraxol is an oral dosage form of paclitaxel administered orally with the HM30181A molecule. Oraxol offers patients with paclitaxel-responsive tumors the possibility of oral therapy without the requirement for premedication to prevent infusion-related hypersensitivity-type reactions. Current clinical data suggests the promising potential of a better clinical response and tolerability profile, which can likely to be attributed to the better pharmacokinetic profile achieved. Oraxol is presently in a Phase 3 trial in metastatic breast cancer and poised to enter into a combination study for treatment of advanced gastric cancer with ramucirumab through a clinical trial collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company.

Acebilustat (formerly CTX-4430) is an investigational oral drug under development by Celtaxsys. It is a potent inhibitor of the enzyme leukotriene A4 hydrolase (LTA4H), which catalyzes the rate‐limiting step in the formation of leukotriene B4 (LTB4), a potent chemoattractant and activator of inflammatory immune cells including neutrophils. Acebilustat is currently being tested in Phase 2 clinical trial as a modulator of inflammation in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have granted orphan drug status to acebilustat as a treatment for cystic fibrosis.

Merestinib (LY2801653) is a small molecule that has been shown in vitro to be a reversible type II ATP-competitive slowoff inhibitor of MET tyrosine kinase with a dissociation constant (Ki) of 2 nM, a pharmacodynamic residence time (Koff) of 0.00132 min−1 and a half-life (t1/2) of 525 min. Preclinical testing also has shown merestinib to inhibit several other receptor tyrosine oncokinases including MST1R, FLT3, AXL, MERTK, TEK, ROS1, NTRK1/2/3, and DDR1/2 and the serine/threonine kinases MKNK1/2. Merestinib is being investigated in a phase II clinical trials in patients with biliary tract cancer, non-small cell lung cancer and solid tumours.