CalciMedica granted U.S. composition patent concerning key component of CRAC channel

CalciMedica today announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued to CalciMedica US Patent No. 7,645,588, a composition patent involving STIM1, a key component of the calcium release-activated calcium (CRAC) channel. The patent, entitled "Composition comprising a cell comprising a STIM1 protein and an agent that modulates intracellular calcium and methods of use," has a priority date of March 4, 2003 and was issued on January 12, 2010. The compositions covered by the patent include both a recombinant cell expressing the STIM1 protein and an agent that reduces calcium ion stores in the cell.

The CRAC channel is the gatekeeper for the Icrac-NFAT pathway, a network essential for the adaptive immune response. STIM1, a calcium sensor in the endoplasmic reticulum, interacts with Orai1, the CRAC channel subunit in the plasma membrane, to regulate calcium entry into T cells. The composition of matter claims can be used for multiple purposes, including assays for the discovery of agents that modulate the activity of CRAC channels. These agents, in turn, can be developed for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, multiple sclerosis, ulcerative colitis as well as organ transplant rejection and other diseases of the immune system, such as allergy and asthma.

"Establishing patent protection of the STIM1 technology, a key component of our drug discovery platform, is an important achievement for CalciMedica," said Gonul Velicelebi, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of CalciMedica and co-inventor on the patent. "We have made great strides in using this technology to identify novel small molecule CRAC channel inhibitors and validating the potential of the CRAC channel as a therapeutic target. We are advancing to investigational new drug (IND) status with our lead molecule, an oral, selective CRAC channel inhibitor with in vivo efficacy in animal models of inflammation, and we look forward to realizing our goal of bringing this first-in-class drug into clinical development."