CalciMedica Secures Credit Facility for Up to $32.5 Million
Rhea-AI Summary
CalciMedica (Nasdaq: CALC) has secured a credit facility of up to $32.5 million from Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund II. The agreement includes an initial $10 million tranche funded at closing, with additional tranches of up to $22.5 million available subject to certain milestones.
The 3.5-year credit facility has no minimum cash requirement or financial covenants. The initial funding extends CalciMedica's cash runway into mid-2026, supporting their product pipeline development, including the anticipated data from their Phase 2 KOURAGE trial of Auxora in patients with acute kidney injury and hypoxemia throughout 2025.
The extended runway will also support anticipated FDA discussions regarding the design of a Phase 3 program in acute pancreatitis. Auxora is the company's lead pipeline candidate targeting acute inflammatory and immunologic diseases.
Positive
- Secured up to $32.5M credit facility with $10M immediate funding
- Extended cash runway into mid-2026
- No minimum cash requirement or financial covenants
- Multiple clinical milestones expected in 2025
Negative
- Additional $22.5M funding dependent on achieving certain milestones
Insights
CalciMedica's new
What makes this deal particularly attractive is its structure - no minimum cash requirements or financial covenants that typically restrict biotech operations. For a clinical-stage company, this flexibility is invaluable, allowing management to allocate resources optimally across their development programs without navigating restrictive financial constraints.
Most importantly, this non-dilutive financing preserves shareholder value while substantially de-risking the company's financial position. The deal's 3.5-year term aligns strategically with their clinical timeline, carrying them through the KOURAGE trial readout and potential FDA discussions on Phase 3 design. This financial cushion eliminates near-term funding pressure that often forces biotechs into unfavorable terms or premature partnerships.
Avenue Capital's willingness to structure such favorable terms suggests confidence in CalciMedica's clinical programs and management team. For investors, this external validation from a sophisticated financial institution provides an important signal about the company's prospects.
This financing secures CalciMedica's pathway to critical clinical milestones for their CRAC channel inhibition platform. Their lead candidate Auxora represents a novel approach targeting calcium release-activated calcium channels, which play fundamental roles in inflammatory and immune responses.
The timing is particularly strategic as the company approaches data readouts from their Phase 2 KOURAGE trial in acute kidney injury with hypoxemia. This indication represents a substantial unmet medical need with treatment options. Additionally, the runway extension provides breathing room for planned FDA discussions regarding their acute pancreatitis program's advancement to Phase 3.
Developing treatments for acute inflammatory conditions requires substantial resources for clinical trials, as these conditions often present complexities in patient recruitment and endpoint measurement. The extended financial runway ensures CalciMedica won't need to compromise on trial design or execution due to funding constraints.
The company's focus on multiple indications (acute kidney injury, hypoxemia, and acute pancreatitis) demonstrates the platform potential of their CRAC channel inhibition approach. With each successful data point, the value of their entire pipeline increases. The Avenue Capital investment effectively funds these important proof-of-concept studies that could validate their entire therapeutic approach.
The credit agreement, which has a term of 3.5 years, includes an initial tranche of
"This credit agreement provides CalciMedica with additional flexibility as we prepare for multiple critical milestones throughout 2025, including anticipated data from our Phase 2 KOURAGE trial of Auxora in patients with acute kidney injury and hypoxemia," said Rachel Leheny, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of CalciMedica. "Importantly, the facility extends our cash runway to the middle of 2026, providing us ample runway beyond the KOURAGE readout based on our current enrollment projections and our anticipated discussions with the FDA on the design of a Phase 3 program in acute pancreatitis."
"Avenue welcomes this opportunity to support CalciMedica in its mission to deliver treatments to patients with high unmet need," said Chad Norman, Senior Portfolio Manager of Avenue Venture Opportunities Fund. "We appreciate the potential of its lead pipeline candidate, Auxora, to treat acute inflammatory and immunologic diseases and look forward to its continued progress in clinical trials."
About Avenue Venture Opportunities
The Avenue Venture Debt Funds seek to provide creative financing solutions to high-growth, venture capital-backed technology and life science companies, focusing generally on companies within the underserved segment of the market created by the widening financing gap between commercial banks and larger debt funds. The Avenue Venture Debt funds are part of the larger group of funds of Avenue Capital Group. For additional information on Avenue Capital Group, which is a global investment firm with assets under management of approximately
About CalciMedica
CalciMedica is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel CRAC channel inhibition therapies for inflammatory and immunologic diseases. CalciMedica's proprietary technology targets the inhibition of CRAC channels to modulate the immune response and protect against tissue cell injury, with the potential to provide therapeutic benefits in life-threatening inflammatory and immunologic diseases for which there are currently no approved therapies. CalciMedica's lead product candidate Auxora™ has demonstrated positive and consistent clinical results in multiple completed efficacy clinical trials. CalciMedica has announced data for a Phase 2b trial (called CARPO – NCT04681066) in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP) and accompanying systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). The Company has also completed a Phase 2 trial (called CARDEA – NCT04345614) in patients with COVID pneumonia. The Company is currently conducting a Phase 2 trial (called KOURAGE – NCT06374797) in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) with associated acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF) with data expected in 2025 and continuing to support the ongoing Phase 1/2 trial (called CRSPA – NCT04195347) in pediatric patients with asparaginase-induced pancreatic toxicity (AIPT) with data expected in 2025. CalciMedica was founded by scientists from Torrey Pines Therapeutics and the Harvard CBR Institute for Biomedical Research, and is headquartered in La Jolla, CA. For more information, please visit www.calcimedica.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This communication contains forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to, the expectations that the credit facility from Avenue Venture Debt Funds will fund CalciMedica's current operations into the middle of 2026; potential funding from additional tranches that are subject to certain milestones; CalciMedica's ongoing and planned clinical trials and the timing, milestones and design thereof, including its plans for an End-of-Phase 2 meeting with the FDA and plans to progress a Phase 3 trial of Auxora in AP, its ongoing Phase 1/2 CRSPA trial of Auxora in pediatric patients with AIPT and its ongoing Phase 2 KOURAGE trial of Auxora in AKI with associated AHRF; the potential benefits of Auxora for the treatment of AP, AKI and AIPT; and the potential of CalciMedica's proprietary technology to provide therapeutic benefits in life-threatening inflammatory and immunologic diseases. These forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. CalciMedica's expectations and beliefs regarding these matters may not materialize. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances. Risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements are included under the caption "Risk Factors" in CalciMedica's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2024, filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on November 13, 2024, and elsewhere in CalciMedica's subsequent reports on Form 10-K, Form 10-Q or Form 8-K filed with the SEC from time to time and available at www.sec.gov. These documents can be accessed on CalciMedica's web page at ir.calcimedica.com/financials-filings/sec-filings. The forward-looking statements contained herein are made as of the date hereof, and CalciMedica undertakes no obligation to update them after this date, except as required by law.
Contact Information
Argot Partners
Sarah Sutton/Kevin Murphy
calcimedica@argotpartners.com
(212) 600-1902
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SOURCE CalciMedica, Inc.
FAQ
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