CalciMedica and EpiPharma Enter into Research Collaboration to Discover and Develop CRAC Channel Inhibitor Therapies

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Under the terms of the research collaboration agreement, CalciMedica will use EpiPharma’s state of the art Pre-clinical Drug Testing and Diagnostics Laboratory Platform to accelerate its drug discovery pipeline

La Jolla, Calif., USA; Szeged and Budapest, Hungary July 15, 2020 – CalciMedica, a clinical-stage biotechnology company targeting calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channels for the treatment of acute and severe inflammatory diseases, and EpiPharma, a bio-pharmaceutical services and drug development company, today announced that they have entered into a collaboration agreement to use EpiPharma’s state-of-the-art Pre-clinical Drug Testing and Diagnostics Laboratory Platform to accelerate the discovery and development of CalciMedica’s CRAC channel inhibitor novel drug pipeline. The collaboration agreement provides that all rights, title and interest in all results shall be owned by CalciMedica.

Epi-Pharma’s diagnostics and research facilities provide complex services including gene and protein expression analysis, histology, immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescent staining, 2D cell culture models, 3D animal and patient-derived organoid culture models (established from a wide range of organs such as colon, oesophagus, stomach, liver and pancreas, lung, etc.), analysis of signal transduction pathways (such as Ca2+ and cAMP signalling) and in vitro and in vivo disease modelling.

“We are delighted to be working with CalciMedica, a leader in the discovery and development of novel CRAC channel inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory and autoimmune disorders and organ transplant rejection,” said József Maléth, chief scientific officer of EpiPharma. “We believe that the application of our state-of-the-art Pre-clinical Drug Testing and Diagnostics Laboratory Platform to CalciMedica’s discovery and development portfolio will help unlock the potential of its breakthrough drug candidates for major unmet clinical needs.”

Ken Stauderman, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of CalciMedica added, “We have been working with József to examine the role of CRAC channels in pancreatic ductal cell function. Findings from a test with one of our CRAC channel inhibitors (CM5480) in his models showed that it restores function of the ductal cells during experimental acute pancreatitis. These findings prompted us to collaborate, leveraging the latest technology and combining resources to speed up the development of our portfolio of highly selective CRAC channel inhibitor drugs that have potential to improve outcomes for patients with acute inflammatory indications.”

About EpiPharma LLC.
EpiPharma is a privately held bio-pharmaceutical services and drug development company.

The EpiPharma Group brings together breakthrough proteomimetic peptide chemistry and a state-of-the-art diagnostic laboratory from gene expression profiling to in vivo disease models.

The EpiPharma Services support clients and partners in their drug development programs and provide an unparalleled laboratory research environment for characterizing, testing and evaluating new potential treatment approaches.

The EpiPharma Drug unit develops Proteomimetic Peptide Drugs to treat major infectious diseases.

About CalciMedica, Inc.
CalciMedica is a privately held, clinical stage biotechnology company with a platform focused on CRAC channel drug discovery and development for the treatment of acute and severe inflammatory diseases. The Company was founded in 2007 by Ken Stauderman, CalciMedica’s Chief Scientific Officer, and colleagues at Torrey Pines Therapeutics in San Diego and Harvard’s Center for Blood Research in Cambridge, MA. Dr. Stauderman’s work includes the discovery of the role of STIM1, which works in concert with Orai1 in the CRAC channels targeted by CalciMedica’s drugs. The Company has a portfolio of highly selective CRAC channel inhibitor drugs that it is developing to improve outcomes for patients with acute inflammatory indications. It has also assembled a portfolio of patents and patent applications covering those compounds as well as different aspects of CRAC channel biology. CalciMedica is headquartered in San Diego, CA. For more information, please visit the company website at www.calcimedica.com.

EpiPharma Contact:
Gabor Heltovics
President
services@epipharma.life
+36 30 3310535
www.epipharma.life

CalciMedica Contact:
Rachel Leheny, Ph.D.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
rachel@calcimedica.com
+1 858-952-5500

Media Contact:
Karen O’Shea, Ph.D.
LifeSci Communications
koshea@lifescicomms.com
929-469-3860