IC50: 1.0-4.3 nM for VEGFR1-3

BAW2881 (NVP-BAW2881) is a VEGFR inhibitor.

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is a potent endothelial cell mitogen regulating blood and lymphatic vessel development and homeostasis. There are three main subtypes of VEGFR, numbered VEGFR 1, 2 and 3.

In vitro: Previous study showed that BAW2881 could inhibit a limited number of kinases including c-RAF, B-RAF, RET, ABL, and TIE-2 at submicromole IC50s. BAW2881 could also inhibit the ligand induced autophosphorylation of RET, PDGFR, and KIT kinases. Moreover, low IC50 value (0.12 ± 0.06 nM) demonstrated that BAW2881 remarkably abrogated VEGF induced proliferation [1].

In vivo: In a psoriasis mouse model, BAW2881 was able to reduce the number of blood and lymphatic vessels and infiltrating leukocytes in the skin, and normalize the epidermal architecture. BAW2881 also showed strong anti-inflammatory effects in acute inflammation models. Moreover, the pretreatment with topical BAW2881 could significantly inhibit VEGF-A-induced vascular permeability in the skin of both pigs and mice. In addition, it was found that the topical application of BAW2881 was able to reduce the inflammatory response in pig skin caused by UV-B irradiation or by contact hypersensitivity reactions [2].

Clinical trial: Up to now, BAW2881 is still in the preclinical development stage.

References:
[1] Bold G et al.  A Novel Potent Oral Series of VEGFR2 Inhibitors Abrogate Tumor Growth by Inhibiting Angiogenesis. J Med Chem. 2016 Jan 14;59(1):132-46.
[2] Halin C,Fahrngruber H,Meingassner JG,Bold G,Littlewood-Evans A,Stuetz A,Detmar M.  Inhibition of chronic and acute skin inflammation by treatment with a vascular endothelial growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Am J Pathol.2008 Jul;173(1):265-77.