CalciMedica Announces Publication of Preclinical Data in Journal of Immunology Further Validating Calcium Release-Activated Calcium (CRAC) Channels as Drug Targets for Diseases of the Airways

Data provides further evidence of the broad potential for CRAC channel inhibitors to benefit patients across multiple disease areas involving the lungs

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CalciMedica

Sep 09, 2021, 08:00 ET

LA JOLLA, Calif., Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- CalciMedica Inc. ("CalciMedica" or the "Company"), the CRAC channel company, today announced the publication of preclinical data validating calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels, P2Y2 receptors, and P2X receptors as potential drug targets for diseases of the airways in the peer-reviewed Journal of Immunology. The study highlighted in the publication, Differential Regulation of ATP- and UTP-Evoked Prostaglandin E₂ and IL-6 Production from Human Airway Epithelial Cells, was conducted at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Professor Murali Prakriya's laboratory, and the manuscript was co-authored by CalciMedica co-founder and chief scientific officer Kenneth A. Stauderman, Ph.D. and researchers from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

"These are exciting results that build on the work that CalciMedica is already doing to enhance our understanding of CRAC channels and their important role in controlling normal function of many cell types," said Dr. Stauderman. "In this study, we saw further evidence that activation of CRAC channels plays a key role in controlling the synthesis and release of inflammatory modulators from pulmonary epithelial cells, which has therapeutic implications. CRAC channel inhibitors have previously shown efficacy in preclinical models of asthma. In addition, CalciMedica is currently conducting a Phase 2 clinical trial with clinical investigators at Northwestern to test our CRAC channel inhibitor Auxora^TM in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who are mechanically ventilated and suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The preclinical results published last week present further evidence that this approach could potentially benefit patients with diseases affecting the airways including ARDS and asthma, by dampening chronic inflammation in the lungs."

The published results show that CRAC channels serve as a signaling nexus to the airway epithelial cells (AECs), which employ unique, receptor-specific signaling mechanisms to regulate the release of opposing immunomodulatory mediators. AECs lining the conducting passageways of the lung secrete a variety of factors that modulate inflammation, including prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), which limits lung inflammation and promotes the dilation of the airways, and IL-6, which drives intense airway inflammation, leading to damage and scarring of the lung tissue. In this study, scientists demonstrated that extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a damage-associated molecule pattern, stimulates the production of PGE₂ and IL-6 by AECs, but at different levels of ATP. ATP-mediated synthesis of PGE_2,was achieved by activating cell surface metabotropic P2Y2 receptors and CRAC channel-mediated cPLA2 signaling. In contrast, ATP-evoked synthesis of IL-6 occurred when the scientists activated P2X receptors and CRAC channel-mediated calcineurin/nuclear factor of activated T cell (NFAT) signaling. These results demonstrate that CRAC channels are essential for both PGE₂synthesis and IL-6 secretion, making CRAC channels potential drug targets for diseases affecting the lungs.

"These study results are significant both from a scientific and a therapeutic perspective," said Dr. Prakriya. "By elucidating the mechanistic link between CRAC channels and the inflammatory modulators PGE₂and IL-6, which has historically not been well understood, we can better understand how targeting the CRAC channels can potentially treat diseases of the lungs."

"This study builds on our growing body of research indicating that CRAC channel inhibitors can potentially improve patient outcomes in both acute critical illnesses and in certain chronic diseases," said Rachel Leheny, Ph.D., chief executive officer of CalciMedica. "We continue to study the role that CRAC channel inhibitors play in modulating the adaptive immune response, as well as in mediating toxicity due to calcium overload in certain pathologies, while advancing multiple clinical trials evaluating Auxora in several indications including acute pancreatitis and acute hypoxemic respiratory failure associated with COVID-19."

About Auxora

CalciMedica's lead product candidate is Auxora, a potent and selective intravenous (IV) formulated small molecule CRAC channel inhibitor that prevents acute epithelial and/or endothelial cell injury and inflammation in organs, such as the pancreas and lungs. Auxora is currently being evaluated in multiple ongoing clinical trials: a blinded, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial in patients with acute pancreatitis with accompanying systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), a Phase 2 dose-escalation trial in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring invasive mechanical ventilation, and an investigator-initiated Phase 1/2 trial in pediatric acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) patients who develop acute pancreatitis as a result of a specific chemotherapy. Auxora has been evaluated in CARDEA, a 284-patient randomized, placebo-controlled trial in hospitalized COVID-19 pneumonia patients that was Part Two of a Phase 2 study. Results of Part One of the Phase 2 study, a randomized open label trial in 30 critical and severe COVID-19 pneumonia patients, were published in the peer reviewed journal, Critical Care, in August 2020. Results of a randomized open label Phase 2a trial in 21 acute pancreatitis patients with SIRS was published in the peer reviewed journal, Pancreas, in June 2021.

About CalciMedica, Inc.

CalciMedica is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a new class of medicines designed to act upon calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels, a group of ion channel targets not addressed by any approved drugs. CalciMedica is developing CRAC channel inhibitors for unmet needs in acute critical illness and looks to expand the potential uses of CRAC channel inhibitors to certain chronic diseases that have the common thread of inflammation in their pathogenesis. The Company has a portfolio of potent and selective small molecule CRAC channel inhibitors including Auxora, its lead product candidate, which is formulated as a proprietary IV nanoemulsion specifically designed for acute critical illnesses.

CalciMedica is headquartered in La Jolla, CA. For more information, please visit the company website at www.calcimedica.com.

SOURCE CalciMedica