Synthesis and Evaluation of <i>N</i>‑Phenyl-3-sulfamoyl-benzamide Derivatives as Capsid Assembly Modulators Inhibiting Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)

Small molecule induced hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsid assembly modulation is considered an attractive approach for new antiviral therapies against HBV. Here we describe efforts toward the discovery of a HBV capsid assembly modulator in a hit-to-lead optimization, resulting in JNJ-632, a tool compound used to further profile the mode of action. Administration of JNJ-632 (54) in HBV genotype D infected chimeric mice resulted in a 2.77 log reduction of the HBV DNA viral load.