aticaprant   Click here for help

GtoPdb Ligand ID: 9194

Synonyms: CERC-501 | CERC501 | JNJ-67953964 | JNJ67953964 | LY-2456302 | LY2456302
Compound class: Synthetic organic
Comment: CERC-501 (formerly JNJ-67953964 and LY2456302) is a potent oral, small molecule, centrally-penetrant, selective antagonist of the κ opioid receptor, with potential antidepressant-like effects [5]. It is claimed in patent WO2009094260 [2]. The chemical structure of this compound was matched to that for the INN aticaprant.
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Ligand Activity Visualisation Charts

These are box plot that provide a unique visualisation, summarising all the activity data for a ligand taken from ChEMBL and GtoPdb across multiple targets and species. Click on a plot to see the median, interquartile range, low and high data points. A value of zero indicates that no data are available. A separate chart is created for each target, and where possible the algorithm tries to merge ChEMBL and GtoPdb targets by matching them on name and UniProt accession, for each available species. However, please note that inconsistency in naming of targets may lead to data for the same target being reported across multiple charts.

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View interactive charts of activity data across species

aticaprant is commercially available from our sponsors

2D Structure
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2D Structure

An image of the ligand's 2D structure. For small molecules with SMILES these are drawn using the NCI/CADD Chemical Identifier Resolver. Click on the image to access the chemical structure search tool with the ligand pre-loaded in the structure editor. For other types of ligands, e.g. longer nucleotides and peptides, a manually drawn representation of the molecule may be provided.

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Physico-chemical Properties
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Physico-chemical Properties

Calculated molecular properties are available for small molecules and natural products (not peptides). Properties were generated using the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) (Willighagen EL et al. Journal of Cheminformatics vol. 9:33. 2017, doi:10.1186/s13321-017-0220-4; https://cdk.github.io/). All properties were selected to enable the prediction of the Lipinski Rule-of-Five profile or ‘druglikeness’ for each ligand. For more info on each category see the help pages.

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Hydrogen bond acceptors 3
Hydrogen bond donors 1
Rotatable bonds 6
Topological polar surface area 55.56
Molecular weight 418.21
XLogP 5.5
No. Lipinski's rules broken 1

Generated using the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) (Willighagen EL et al. Journal of Cheminformatics vol. 9:33. 2017, doi:10.1186/s13321-017-0220-4; https://cdk.github.io/)
SMILES / InChI / InChIKey
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SMILES / InChI / InChIKey

SMILES (Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry Specification) A specification for unambiguously describing the structure of chemical molecules using short ASCII strings. Canonical SMILES specify a unique representation of the 2D structure without chiral or isotopic specifications. Isomeric SMILES include chiral specification and isotopes.

Standard InChI (IUPAC International Chemical Identifier) and InChIKey InChI is a non-proprietary, standard, textual identifier for chemical substances designed to facilitate linking of information and database searching. An InChIKey is a simplified version of a full InChI, designed for easier web searching.

Generated using the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) (Willighagen EL et al. Journal of Cheminformatics vol. 9:33. 2017, doi:10.1186/s13321-017-0220-4; https://cdk.github.io/)

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Canonical SMILES Cc1cc(C)cc(c1)C1CCCN1Cc1ccc(cc1)Oc1ccc(cc1F)C(=O)N
Isomeric SMILES Cc1cc(C)cc(c1)[C@@H]1CCCN1Cc1ccc(cc1)Oc1ccc(cc1F)C(=O)N
InChI InChI=1S/C26H27FN2O2/c1-17-12-18(2)14-21(13-17)24-4-3-11-29(24)16-19-5-8-22(9-6-19)31-25-10-7-20(26(28)30)15-23(25)27/h5-10,12-15,24H,3-4,11,16H2,1-2H3,(H2,28,30)/t24-/m0/s1
InChI Key ZHPMYDSXGRRERG-DEOSSOPVSA-N

Generated using the Chemistry Development Kit (CDK) (Willighagen EL et al. Journal of Cheminformatics vol. 9:33. 2017, doi:10.1186/s13321-017-0220-4; https://cdk.github.io/)
No information available.
Summary of Clinical Use Click here for help
Aticaprant (CERC-501; formerly JNJ-67953964 and LY2456302) was progressed to clinical evaluation for safety and efficacy as an adjunctive treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) [1,4]. Despite report of antidepressant-like effects of aticaprant in a proof-of-concept trial in 2020 [3], development for MDD was discontinued in Q1 2025 due to insufficient efficacy in target patients in phase 3.
Clinical Trials
Clinical Trial ID Title Type Source Comment References
NCT05455684 A Study of Aticaprant as Adjunctive Therapy in Adult Participants With Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) With Moderate-to-severe Anhedonia and Inadequate Response to Current Antidepressant Therapy Phase 3 Interventional Janssen Research & Development, LLC
NCT05550532 A Study of Aticaprant 10 Milligrams (mg) as Adjunctive Therapy in Adult Participants With MDD With Moderate-to-severe Anhedonia and Inadequate Response to Current Antidepressant Therapy Phase 3 Interventional Janssen Research & Development, LLC
NCT06635135 A Study of Aticaprant Plus an Antidepressant to Prevent Return of Depression Symptoms in Participants With Major Depressive Disorder Who Experience a Loss of Interest and Pleasure Phase 3 Interventional Janssen Research & Development, LLC
NCT06514742 A Study of Aticaprant 10 mg as Adjunctive Therapy in Adult Participants With Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) With Moderate-to-severe Anhedonia and Inadequate Response to Current Antidepressant Therapy and Long-term Extension Treatment With Aticaprant Phase 3 Interventional Janssen Research & Development, LLC
NCT03559192 A Study to Explore the Efficacy of JNJ-67953964 in the Treatment of Depression Phase 2 Interventional Janssen Research & Development, LLC 6