clofazimine   Click here for help

GtoPdb Ligand ID: 9184

Synonyms: Lamprene®
Approved drug Immunopharmacology Ligand
clofazimine is an approved drug (FDA (1986))
Compound class: Synthetic organic
Comment: Clofazimine is a phenazine dye with antimycobacterial properties [3]. It has both antibacterial and anti-inflammatory activities. State-dependent block of Kv1.3 channels by clofazimine offers therapeutic potential for selective immunosuppression in the context of autoimmune diseases in which Kv1.3-expressing T cells play a significant role [4].

SARS-CoV-2: A report in Nature has identified that clofazimine has anti-coronavirus activity, and that this is synergistic with the antiviral activity of remdesivir [7]. The drug was found to inhibit viral spike-mediated cell fusion and viral helicase activity in vitro, which translated to reduced pulmonary viral load, gut viral shedding and inflammation in an in vivo infection model. The authors suggest that their data supports the use of clofazimine in an outpatient setting for those infected with SARS-CoV-2, or for hospitalised COVID-19 patients if combined with remdesivir. Based on this evidence it is planned to progress clofazimine + remdesivir directly into Phase 2 clinical trial. A trial of clofazimine + interferon-1β is already underway.
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2D Structure
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Physico-chemical Properties
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Hydrogen bond acceptors 3
Hydrogen bond donors 1
Rotatable bonds 4
Topological polar surface area 41.69
Molecular weight 472.12
XLogP 8.81
No. Lipinski's rules broken 1
SMILES / InChI / InChIKey
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Canonical SMILES Clc1ccc(cc1)Nc1cc2nc3ccccc3n(c2cc1=NC(C)C)c1ccc(cc1)Cl
Isomeric SMILES Clc1ccc(cc1)Nc1cc2nc3ccccc3n(c2cc1=NC(C)C)c1ccc(cc1)Cl
InChI InChI=1S/C27H22Cl2N4/c1-17(2)30-24-16-27-25(15-23(24)31-20-11-7-18(28)8-12-20)32-22-5-3-4-6-26(22)33(27)21-13-9-19(29)10-14-21/h3-17,31H,1-2H3
InChI Key WDQPAMHFFCXSNU-UHFFFAOYSA-N
No information available.
Summary of Clinical Use Click here for help
Clofazimine is used in combination with the antibacterials, rifampicin and dapsone, as multidrug therapy (MDT) for the treatment of leprosy [2].
Clofazimine is on the World Health Organisation's List of Essential Medicines. It is not commercially available in the US, but can been obtained from the National Hansen's Disease (Leprosy) Program (NHDP) of the US Department of Health and Human Services when required [5].
Mechanism Of Action and Pharmacodynamic Effects Click here for help
Clofazimine inhibits bacterial DNA replication and proliferation [2].
Clinical Trials
Clinical Trial ID Title Type Source Comment References
NCT04465695 Dual Therapy With Interferon Beta-1b and Clofazimine for COVID-19 Phase 2 Interventional The University of Hong Kong
NCT03009396 Open Label Efficacy and Safety of Anti-MAP (Mycobacterium Avium Ssp. Paratuberculosis) Therapy in Adult Crohn's Disease Phase 3 Interventional RedHill Biopharma Limited RHB-104 is a fixed-dose combination of clofazimine, and rifabutin. This was evaluated as a therapy for treating Crohn's disease associated with Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). 1,6
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