Understanding Phase Behavior of Nearly Energetically Equivalent Polymorphs To Achieve Controlled Crystallization for a Nav1.7 Pain Inhibitor Compound

GENE-A, a Nav1.7 inhibitor compound with analgesic activity, was developed as a crystalline anhydrate, for which two polymorphic forms, I and II, were discovered. The two forms were found to possess very similar free energies as determined experimentally with Form II being thermodynamically stable above 25 degrees C based on solubility measurements. A detailed solid-state characterization was conducted to determine the relative stability of these solid forms, and both thermodynamic and kinetic pathways (slurry bridging and crystallization) were evaluated. Form II was obtained as the final form in competitive slurries at RT. The outcome of crystallization experiments in terms of the solid form obtained was complicated and yielded variable results depending on the form of the starting material and that of the seeds. Form II was reproducibly obtained as the end product in unseeded experiments and in those with Form II as seeds and starting material, while Form I was obtained in all other seeded experiments. On the basis of the experimental data, a controlled crystallization strategy was developed, wherein Form II was used both as starting material and seeds to reproducibly obtain the desired form upon scale-up.