- Tummino, Tia;
- Iliopoulos-Tsoutsouvas, Christos;
- Braz, Joao;
- OBrien, Evan;
- Stein, Reed;
- Craik, Veronica;
- Tran, Ngan;
- Ganapathy, Suthakar;
- Liu, Fangyu;
- Shiimura, Yuki;
- Tong, Fei;
- Ho, Thanh;
- Radchenko, Dmytro;
- Moroz, Yurii;
- Rosado, Sian;
- Bhardwaj, Karnika;
- Benitez, Jorge;
- Liu, Yongfeng;
- Kandasamy, Herthana;
- Normand, Claire;
- Semache, Meriem;
- Sabbagh, Laurent;
- Glenn, Isabella;
- Irwin, John;
- Kumar, Kaavya;
- Makriyannis, Alexandros;
- Basbaum, Allan;
- Shoichet, Brian
Virtual library docking can reveal unexpected chemotypes that complement the structures of biological targets. Seeking agonists for the cannabinoid-1 receptor (CB1R), we dock 74 million tangible molecules and prioritize 46 high ranking ones for de novo synthesis and testing. Nine are active by radioligand competition, a 20% hit-rate. Structure-based optimization of one of the most potent of these (Ki = 0.7 µM) leads to 1350, a 0.95 nM ligand and a full CB1R agonist of Gi/o signaling. A cryo-EM structure of 1350 in complex with CB1R-Gi1 confirms its predicted docked pose. The lead agonist is strongly analgesic in male mice, with a 2-20-fold therapeutic window over hypolocomotion, sedation, and catalepsy and no observable conditioned place preference. These findings suggest that unique cannabinoid chemotypes may disentangle characteristic cannabinoid side-effects from analgesia, supporting the further development of cannabinoids as pain therapeutics.