We report on a new preclinical drug optimization strategy
that
measures drug candidates’ binding affinity with human serum
albumin (HSA) as an assessment of increasing or decreasing serum T1/2. Three common scaffolds were used as drug prototypes. Common
polar and nonpolar substituents attached to the scaffolds have been
identified as opportunities for increasing or decreasing the HSA binding
affinity. This approach of adjusting HSA binding could be proactively
established for preclinical drug candidates by appending functionality
to sites on the drug scaffold not involved in biological target interactions.
This strategy complements other medicinal chemistry efforts to identify
longer or shorter human dosing regimens.