Rocastine (AHR-11325)

Rocastine (AHR-11325), a rapid acting, nonsedating antihistamine

Rocastine [AHR-11325, 2-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-2,3-dihydro-4-methylpyrido-[3,2-f]-1,4- oxazepine-5(4H)-thione (E)-2-butenedioate)] is a rapid-acting, potent, nonsedating antihistamine. In guinea pigs challenged with a lethal dose of histamine, rocastine is as effective [based on 1 hr. oral, protective dose (PD50S)] as brompheniramine, chlorpheniramine, pyrilamine, and promethazine and superior to astemizole, diphenhydramine, terfenadine, and oxatomide. Rocastine has a faster onset of action than does terfenadine; rocastine being as effective with a 15 min pretreatment time (PD50 = 0.13 mg/kg) as it is with a 1 hr pretreatment time (PD50 = 0.12 mg/kg), while the 15 min PD50 of terfenadine (PD50 = 44.0 mg/kg) is 22 times greater than the 1 hr PD50 (PD50 = 1.93 mg/kg). Against aerosolized histamine, rocastine was 7.12 x, 2.63 x, and equipotent to pyrilamine in preventing histamine-induced prostration at pretreatment times of 1,3, and 6 hr, respectively. Rocastine protected guinea pigs from collapse induced by aerosolized antigen; rocastine was approximately 36 x more potent (based on 1 hr PD50) than diphenhydramine and as potent as oxatomide and terfenadine. Rocastine did not alter the EEG of cats at doses in vast excess (150x) of its antihistaminic dose nor did it potentiate yohimbine toxicity in mice. Further, rocastine possesses no anticholinergic, antiadrenergic, or antiserotonergic properties in vitro. Rocastine is a selective, nonsedating, H1-antagonist with a rapid onset of action.

Benzo- and pyrido-1,4-oxazepin-5-ones and -thiones: synthesis and structure-activity relationships of a new series of H1 antihistamines

A series of novel benzo- and pyrido-1,4-oxazepinones and -thiones which represents a new structural class of compounds possessing H1 antihistaminic activity was synthesized, and the SARs were evaluated. The antihistaminic activity was determined by blockade of histamine-induced lethality in guinea pigs. The sedative potential was determined by comparison of the EEG profiles of the compounds with those of known sedating and nonsedating antihistamines. Several of the compounds were shown to possess potent H1 antihistaminic activity and to be free of the cortical slowing with synchronized waves and spindling activity found in the EEG of sedative antihistamines. One compound, 2-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-3,4-dihydro-4-methylpyrido[3,2-f]-1,4- oxazepine-5(2H)-thione (rocastine) is currently undergoing clinical evaluation as a nonsedating H1 antihistamine.

Optical isomers of rocastine and close analogues: synthesis and H1 antihistaminic activity of its enantiomers and their structural relationship to the classical antihistamines

The enantiomers of 2-[2-(dimethylamino)ethyl]-3,4-dihydro-4-methylpyrido[3,2-f]-1,4- oxazapine-5(2H)-thione (rocastine) and two of its more potent analogues were prepared with an enantiomeric purity of greater than 99.9%. The antihistaminic activity of these compounds was assessed by their ability to block histamine-induced lethality in guinea pigs and to inhibit [3H]mepyramine binding to guinea pig cortex. In this series, compounds having the R configuration at the 2-position are at least 300 times more potent than the S isomers. Conformational analysis and molecular modeling suggest that rocastine can adopt a conformation in which the pyridine ring, ether oxygen, and protonated amine functions are positioned similarly to the corresponding elements of the probable binding conformers of some of the more classical antihistamines. This conformation, boatlike in the oxazepine ring with the side chain quasi-equatorial and folded back toward the ring, is the likely binding conformer at the histamine H1 receptor, and the available structure-activity relationship data is consistent with this interpretation.