Patent ID: 7615568

Claim:
A compound of formula I, or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein: A 3 , A 4 , A 5 and A 6 , together with the two carbons to which they are attached, complete a substituted pyridine ring in which (a) A 3 is N, and each of the others is CR 4 , CR 5 or CR 6 , respectively; wherein R 4 is hydrogen, carboxy, aminocarbonyl or methylaminocarbonyl; R 5 is hydrogen, fluoro, chloro, or methyl; and R 6 is hydrogen; or wherein each of R 3 , R 4 and R 6 is hydrogen and R 5 is acetyl or cyano; (b) A 4 is N, and each of the others is CR 3 , CR 5 or CR 6 , respectively; wherein each of R 3 and R 6 is hydrogen and R 5 is hydrogen, methyl, acetyl or cyano; (c) A 5 is N, and each of the others is CR 3 , CR 4 or CR 6 , respectively; wherein each of R 3 and R 6 is hydrogen and R 4 is hydrogen, carboxy, aminocarbonyl or methylamino-carbonyl; (d) A 6 is N, and each of the others is CR 3 , CR 4 or CR 5 , respectively; wherein R 3 is hydrogen; R 4 is hydrogen, carboxy, aminocarbonyl or methylaminocarbonyl; and R 5 is hydrogen or methyl; R is 2-pyridinyl (which may bear a methyl, cyano, carbamoyl, hydroxymethyl, formyl, vinyl, amino, hydroxy, methoxy, difluoromethoxy, methylthio, fluoro or chloro substituent at the 5-position), or R is 3-pyridinyl (which may bear a methyl, fluoro or chloro substituent at the 6-position), or R is phenyl (which may bear one, two or three substituents at the 3-, 4- or 5-position(s) independently selected from fluoro, chloro, bromo, cyano, carbamoyl, methyl, methoxy, difluoromethoxy, hydroxymethyl, formyl, vinyl, amino, hydroxy and 3,4-methylenedioxy; and in addition the phenyl may bear a 2-chloro or 2-fluoro substituent), or R is 6-indolyl (which may bear a chloro or methyl substituent at the 3-position); R 1 is —(CH 2 ) i -Q-(CH 2 ) j —NR a R b in which a) Q is a single bond; the sum of i and j is 2 or 3; and each of R a and R b is hydrogen, or each of R a and R b is independently (1-3C) normal alkyl, or R a is hydrogen and R b is (1-3C)alkyl or formyl, or NR a R b is 1-pyrrolidinyl or 4-morpholinyl; b) Q is —CH(CH 3 )—, —C(CH 3 ) 2 —, or —CH(OR c )—; each of i and j is 1; R a is hydrogen; and R b is hydrogen or methyl; and R c is hydrogen, methyl or benzyl; c) Q is cis- or trans-cyclohexane-1,4-diyl; each of i and j is 0; R a is hydrogen; and R b is hydrogen or methyl; d) Q is —CHR d —; i is 0; j is 1; R a is hydrogen or methyl; and R b and R d together are —(CH 2 ) k — wherein k is 2 or 3; e) Q is —CHR d —; i is 1; j is 1; R a is hydrogen or methyl; and R b and R d together are —(CH 2 ) k — wherein k is 1, 2 or 3; or f) Q is —CHR d —; i is 0 or 1; j is 2; R a is hydrogen or methyl; and R b and R d together are —(CH 2 ) k — wherein k is 2; and R 2 is —(CH 2 ) m —S(O) n —R e in which m is 0 or 1, n is 0, 1 or 2, and R e is (1-3C)alkyl or 2-fluoroethyl; and wherein (1-3C) normal alkyl is methyl, ethyl or propyl; and (1-3C)alkyl is methyl, ethyl, propyl, or isopropyl.