ChemoCentryx Awarded $14 Million NIH Grant to Develop Chemokine-Based Immunomodulators
Monday October 13, 8:01 am ET
SAN CARLOS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 2003--ChemoCentryx, Inc. today announced that the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded the company a $14 million grant to develop first-in-class immune modulatory agents targeting chemokine receptors for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases that may be caused by biological warfare pathogens. The grant will support drug discovery efforts including small molecule screening, medicinal chemistry optimization and pre-clinical development with the goal of creating novel therapeutic and preventive approaches for such biothreat pathogens.
This research is intended to harness the unique power of the chemokine system, a primary regulator of the migration of immune cells throughout the body. The goal of modulating the chemokine system is to engage both innate and acquired immunity. The ChemoCentryx approach is to discover and develop orally bioavailable small molecules to block or stimulate a given chemokine receptor. With this grant, the company intends to develop small molecules and other modalities to stimulate the immune system or otherwise interact with certain of these important immunomodulatory receptors to block the effects of infection. Including the multi-disciplinary efforts of biologists, chemists and pharmacologists, this four-year grant builds on two earlier awards, totaling $9 million, from the Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPA.
"We are pleased to have received this grant to create new medicines to boost immunity through the chemokine system," said Thomas J. Schall, Ph.D., President and CEO of ChemoCentryx. "Such a significant award to a single private company not only validates ChemoCentryx's approach and technology but also underlines the importance of the chemokine system as a target for therapeutic intervention. Chemokine based medicines have the potential to revolutionize treatment for patients with major autoimmune and inflammatory disorders and cancer as well as to contribute to key aspects of homeland security."
This grant was made under the NIAID's cooperative research program for the development of new vaccines, adjuvants, therapeutics, immunotherapeutics or diagnostics focused on NIAID category A-C biodefense pathogens. This is part of the current program of the National Institutes of Health and other agencies in the Department of Health and Human Services to support the development of new products to protect the public from health consequences resulting from the use of biological agents in acts of terrorism or war.
Developing New Medicines Based on the Chemokine System
Chemokines and their cell surface receptors act as the major 'traffic control system' for the body's immune response. By coordinating the trafficking of immune cells around the body, chemokines regulate how the immune system fights disease as well as the normal immune homeostasis of healthy individuals. Disequilibrium of the chemokine network is at the core of autoimmune disease and inflammatory disorders such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, bowel disease, asthma and transplant rejection. Chemokines are also critical to the establishment of infection by many pathogens (such as the AIDS virus, HIV) and to the initiation and progression of many cancers.
Blocking chemokine receptor activity has been demonstrated to reduce or eliminate the excessive and detrimental immune response in many inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Conversely, stimulating the chemokine system provides a strategy for augmenting immunity to infectious diseases and cancer. Small molecule and other chemokine-based therapeutics are in human clinical trials for multiple indications and are proving to be well tolerated with promising signs of efficacy.
About ChemoCentryx
ChemoCentryx, Inc. discovers, develops and commercializes novel small molecule medicines for autoimmune diseases, inflammatory disorders, cancer and infectious disease. Traficet-EN(TM), the company's orally active drug for inflammatory bowel disease, will enter clinical trials in 2003. Other products include an orally active development candidate for rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis, and emerging drug candidates for cancer and cardiopulmonary inflammation. Another drug, T487, resulted from a ChemoCentryx discovery program and is expected to enter Phase II clinical trials for psoriasis in 2003 with partner Tularik Inc. Leveraging its leadership in chemokine-based drug discovery, ChemoCentryx focuses on new classes of orally active small molecules to selectively inhibit activity of the chemokine system, the "master regulator" of immune response. Based in San Carlos, California, ChemoCentryx is privately held. For more information on the company, visit www.chemocentryx.com. |
