SelonabantSelonabant (ANEB-001)

Formula

C₂₂H₂₄ClF₃N₂O₂

Molar mass

440.15 g·mol⁻¹

CAS

791848-71-0

PubChem CID

68902536

Origin

A wholly synthetic compound with no natural occurrence. It is in clinical development and is not commercialised.

InChIKey

BNLYOVHLLDBOFZ-LJQANCHMSA-N

Editorial estimate, not clinical.

Selonabant reverses the logic that had caused the failure of CB1 receptor antagonists. Rimonabant and its successors were to be taken every day, for months, by people otherwise in good health, in order to lose weight: in that context the adverse psychiatric effects linked to prolonged CB1 blockade proved unacceptable and carried away the entire class after 2008. Selonabant, by contrast, targets a single administration, in an emergency situation, in a person already intoxicated. The balance between benefit and risk is not at all the same, and the need is real: emergency department visits for acute cannabinoid intoxication are rising everywhere cannabis policy has been liberalised, with anxiety, panic attacks, tachycardia and sometimes psychotic episodes, without any specific therapy existing. The phase 2 trial published by Gorbenko and colleagues in 2025 gives the compound with oral Δ9-THC in healthy volunteers and measures what remains of it. The sensation of feeling high falls by up to about 83 per cent at 30 milligrams, self-reported alertness rises again, objectively measured postural instability falls by about a third. Heart rate is not significantly modified. The point of note for what follows is that the 10 milligram dose suffices and is better tolerated, nausea and vomiting becoming more frequent at high doses. The authors conclude that these results justify pursuing development towards the emergency management of acute intoxication.

An entirely chemical route, described here by class only. The molecule is an azetidine carboxamide: a four-membered azetidine ring bears on its nitrogen a carboxamide function capped by a tert-butyl group, and on one of its carbons an ether bridge linked to a benzylic carbon of defined configuration bearing a chlorophenyl and a trifluoromethylphenyl. That skeleton clearly separates it from the pyrazoles of the first generation of antagonists.

Sources: EUR-Lex, UNODC, CND, ANSM, IUPHAR/BPS, ChEBI, EUDA. Our method.

Class

ECS modulator (research)

Origin

A wholly synthetic compound with no natural occurrence. It is in clinical development and is not commercialised.

Status

Unscheduled

1. 1.Gorbenko et coll. 2025 : le sélonabant, antagoniste du récepteur CB1, bloque les effets aigus du THC chez le volontaire sain, essai randomisé contrôlé de phase 2PMID 39898464