Discovery of Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs) for the Treatment of Insomnia

Title: Discovery of Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs) for the Treatment of Insomnia

Volume: 11 Issue: 6

Author(s): Paul J. Coleman, Christopher D. Cox and Anthony J. Roecker

Affiliation:

Keywords: Brain penetration, diazepane, g-protein coupled receptor, insomnia, neuropeptide, orexin, sleep, proof-of-concept, physicochemical properties, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, prepro-orexin, sleep-wake cycle, DORA, cataplexy, high-throughput screen, dimethoxy-THIQ region

Abstract: Orexins are excitatory neuropeptides that have a critical role in maintaining wakefulness. Orexin receptor antagonists promote sleep in animals and humans. Indeed, small molecule orexin receptor antagonists have demonstrated clinical proof-of-concept in the treatment of primary insomnia. This review describes optimization of orexin receptor antagonists across diverse structural classes with a focus on how molecules were designed to optimize potency, physicochemical properties, pharmacokinetics, brain penetration, and in vivo activity.

Cite this article as:

J. Coleman Paul, D. Cox Christopher and J. Roecker Anthony, Discovery of Dual Orexin Receptor Antagonists (DORAs) for the Treatment of Insomnia, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2011; 11 (6) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026611109060696