Alvelestat is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of neutrophil elastase (NE) with pIC50 value of 7.9[1].
The reversible NE inhibitor, alvelestat, is developed for treating the neutrophil-driven inflammatory lung diseases such as bronchiectasis and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseas. Alvelestat shows high affinity with human NE with a Ki value of 9.4nM. It is more than 600-fold selective for human NE over other serine proteases. In the whole-blood and cell- associated and explosive-release assays, alvelestat shows pIC50 values of 7.36, 7.32 and 7.3, respectively. In the acute lung injury model, administration of alvelestat significantly reduces the levels of hemoglobin and BAL hydroxyproline induced by human NE. In the smoke-induced airway inflammation model, alvelestat reduces both BAL neutrophils and IL-1β markedly. Furthermore, alvelestat can relieve inflammation and inhibit smoke-induced increases in lavage neutrophils and macrophages in a model of chronic smoke-induced inflammation and emphysema [1].
References:
[1] Stevens T, Ekholm K, Gränse M, et al. AZD9668: pharmacological characterization of a novel oral inhibitor of neutrophil elastase. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2011, 339(1): 313-320.