A new fragment based drug design approach implemented in our MedChem-Decision platform led to the discovery of a new series of 2,5 disubstituted 7-azaindole derivatives as potent dual Abl and Src kinase inhibitors. Extensive structure–activity relationships and structure-based drug design studies guided the exploration of the specificity pocket within the active conformation of the ATP site of the two kinases. This led to (1) the identification of a new binding mode of the 7-azaindole core to the two kinases and (2) the synthesis and pharmacological evaluation of compounds that exhibit low nanomolar inhibition on both Abl and Src kinases as well as moderate activity on the Abl 315I mutant.
