Adds to Extensive Preclinical and Early Clinical Evidence that Nebokitug Interferes with Key Features
of Systemic Sclerosis
TEL AVIV, Israel, March 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Chemomab Therapeutics, Ltd. (NASDAQ:CMMB), a clinical stage biotechnology company developing innovative therapeutics for fibro-inflammatory diseases with high unmet need, today announced a new scientific presentation that further confirms the potential of nebokitug (CM-101) as a novel treatment for systemic sclerosis (SSc).1 The data will be presented at the 8th International Congress on Controversies in Rheumatology and Autoimmunity (CORA 2025) on March 8, 2025, in Venice, Italy.
Systemic sclerosis is an autoimmune disease characterized by microvascular injury and extensive tissue fibrosis of the skin and internal organs. It is the most lethal of the systemic connective tissue diseases and lacks approved disease-modifying therapies. Nebokitug is a first-in-class monoclonal antibody that blocks the soluble protein CCL24, which has been shown to be a key driver of the pathways underlying fibro-inflammatory conditions such as SSc and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). In extensive preclinical studies, blocking CCL24 reduced the inflammatory and fibrotic injury to the lung, skin and vasculature that are hallmarks of SSc pathology. An investigator-sponsored study showed that treatment with nebokitug induced strong and rapid reductions in inflammatory biomarkers in patients with acute lung Injury, a relevant model for the type of lung damage seen in SSc patients.
“This new data adds to the extensive body of preclinical evidence that CCL24 is a key driver of the skin, lung and vascular manifestations of this disabling condition that lacks disease-modifying therapies,” said Adi Mor, PhD, co-founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Chemomab. “These results further reinforce our belief, based on multiple preclinical and patient sample studies and the positive results from our Phase 2 PSC trial, that nebokitug has substantial potential as a treatment for SSc. Chemomab has an open U.S. IND for a Phase 2 trial of nebokitug in SSc.”
The new study being presented at CORA 2025 was conducted in collaboration with Dr. Alexandra Balbir-Gurman, former director of the B. Shine Rheumatology Institute at Rambam Health Care Campus, Clinical Associate Professor at the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and a noted scleroderma researcher and clinician. The study used matching skin and serum samples from a large registry of SSc patients and data from the bleomycin-mouse model to assess nebokitug’s possible effects on CCR3-expressing immune cells in SSc (CCR3 is the receptor for CCL24). Researchers analyzed CCL24’s role in induced fibrosis and SSc pathogenesis and identified several peripheral immune cell populations with altered expression of CCR3, two of which are linked to SSc and its complications. These findings further underscore the role of CCL24 in SSc and strengthen the therapeutic rationale for targeting CCL24 inhibition with nebokitug as a potential SSc therapy.
A 2024 peer-reviewed publication2 found strong associations between nebokitug’s CCL24 target and SSc. Data from more than 200 SSc patients showed that higher CCL24 levels were linked to clinical variables associated with the most severe forms of SSc with irreversible tissue damage, including severity of skin fibrosis and calcinosis, presence of interstitial lung disease and a history of digital ulcers and synovitis. Importantly, high serum CCL24 was predictive for deterioration of pulmonary function and a higher baseline CCL24 level was associated with higher 10-year SSc-related mortality.
Recent positive data from the nebokitug Phase 2 SPRING trial in patients with PSC further strengthens the rationale for assessing nebokitug in SSc. This trial was the first major clinical validation of the dual anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic mechanism of nebokitug. In patients with PSC, nebokitug reduced …
