ABSTRACT:The respectively. Metabolic profiling revealed that CP-544439 was primarily metabolized via glucuronidation, reduction, and hydrolysis. Glucuronidation was the primary route of metabolism in dogs, whereas reduction of the hydroxamate moiety was the major pathway in rats. Human plasma and urine obtained from a dose escalation study in healthy human volunteers were also analyzed in this study to assess the metabolism of CP-544439 in humans and ensure that selected animal species were exposed to all major metabolites formed in humans. Analysis suggested that CP-544439 was metabolized via all three pathways in humans consistent with rat and dog; however, the glucuronide conjugate M1 was the major circulating and excretory metabolite in humans. Preliminary in vitro phenotyping studies indicated that glucuronide formation is primarily catalyzed by UGT1A1, 1A3, and 1A9.The matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are a family of zincdependent enzymes responsible for breaking down extracellular matrix proteins. Overexpression and activation of MMP have been linked to a range of diseases in which the destruction of connective tissue is an important pathological event, such as osteo arthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis, tumor metastasis and angiogenesis, and corneal ulceration (Beckett et al., 1996;Michaelides and Curtin 1999;Rao, 2005). Collagenase 3 (MMP-13) is one type of MMP that is overexpressed in cartilage tissues of OA patients and is very efficient in the degradation of type II collagen. Thus, MMP-13 has been implicated in the pathology of OA. A selective MMP-13 inhibitor should therefore slow down or prevent cartilage breakdown and improve the quality of life of OA patients by retarding loss of function due to joint deterioration.4-[4-(4-Fluorophenoxy)-benzenesulfonylamino]tetrahydropyran-4-carboxylic acid hydroxyamide (CP-544439) (Scheme 1) was designed and synthesized as a selective inhibitor of MMP-13 (IC 50 ϭ 0.8 nM) (Reiter et al., 2004). In vivo studies using a hamster model, in which the cartilage collagen degradation was induced by intra-articular injection of recombinant human MMP-13 (Otterness et al., 2000), demonstrated that oral administration of CP-544439 inhibits degradation of the cartilage collagen with an ED 50 of 14 mg/kg and efficacious plasma concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 1.0 g/ml.Preclinical pharmacokinetic studies of CP-544439 in rats and dogs demonstrated that the clearance of CP-544439 was high in rats (53 ml/min/kg) and moderate in dogs (10 ml/min/kg). The volume of distribution ranged from 1.6 to 2.0 l/kg in the two species, and the terminal elimination half-life was 0.9 and 6.5 h in rats and dogs, Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at