EP1777222A1 — Cholinergic enhancers with improved blood-brain barrier permeability for the treatment of diseases accompanied by cognitive impairment

USPTO Abstract

The present invention refers to compounds that, in addition to enhancing the sensitivity to acetylcholine and choline of neuronal cholinergic receptors and/or acting as chvlinesterase inhibitors and/or neuroprotective agents, have enhanced blood-brain barrier permeability in comparison to their parent compounds. The compounds are derived (either formally by their chemical structure or directly by chemical synthesis) from natural compounds belonging to the class of amaryllidaceae alkaloids e.g. galanthamine, narwedine and lyeoramine, or from metabolites of said compounds. The compounds of the present invention can either interact as such with their target molecules, or they can act as "prodrugs", in the sense that after reaching their target regions in the body they are converted by hydrolysis or enzymatic attack to the original parent compound and react as such with their target molecules, or both. The compounds of this invention may be used as medicaments for the treatment of human brain diseases associated with a cholinergic deficit, including the neurodegenerative diseases Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and the psychiatric diseases vascular dementia, schizophrenia and epilepsy.