Discovery of HWL-088: A highly potent FFA1/GPR40 agonist bearing a phenoxyacetic acid scaffold

Abstract Based on a previously reported phenoxyacetic acid scaffold, compound 7 (HWL-088) has been identified as a superior free fatty acid receptor 1 (FFA1) agonist by comprehensive structure-activity relationship study. Our results indicated that the introduction of ortho-fluoro greatly increased the activity of phenoxyacetic acid series, and the unique structure-activity relationship in biphenyl moiety is different from previously reported FFA1 agonists. Moreover, the modeling study was also performed to better understand the binding mode of present series. Compound 7 significantly improved glucose tolerance both in normal and diabetic models, and even exerted greater potential on glucose control than that of TAK-875. These findings provided a novel candidate HWL-088, which is currently in preclinical study to evaluate its potential for the treatment of diabetes.