The Discovery of a Dual TTK Protein Kinase/CDC2-Like Kinase (CLK2) Inhibitor for the Treatment of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Initiated from a Phenotypic Screen

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) remains a serious unmet medical need with discouragingly high relapse rates. We report here the synthesis and structure–activity relationship (SAR) of a novel series of 2,4,5-trisubstituted-7H-pyrrolo­[2,3-d]­pyrimidines with potent activity against TNBC tumor cell lines. These compounds were discovered from a TNBC phenotypic screen and possess a unique dual inhibition profile targeting TTK (mitotic exit) and CLK2 (mRNA splicing). Design and optimization, driven with a TNBC tumor cell assay, identified potent and selective compounds with favorable in vitro and in vivo activity profiles and good iv PK properties. This cell-based driven SAR produced compounds with strong single agent in vivo efficacy in multiple TNBC xenograft models without significant body weight loss. These data supported the nomination of CC-671 into IND-enabling studies as a single agent TNBC therapy.