This letter describes the discovery of a novel series of dual Akt1/Akt2 kinase inhibitors, based on a 2,3,5-trisubstituted pyridine scaffold. Compounds from this series, which contain a 5-tetrazolyl moiety, exhibit more potent inhibition of Akt2 than Akt1.
Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Technology Enabled Synthesis Group, Merck Research Laboratories, Merck & Co., PO Box 4, West Point, PA 19486, USA. zhijian_zhao@merck.com
