Study to Assess Safety and Efficacy of Oral Senicapoc Administration on Exercise-induced Asthma

Based on the unmet medical need for new agents in the treatment of asthma and the role of KCa3.1 in the function of several different cell types involved in the inflammatory response, and the effects seen in an animal model of allergic asthma, it is reasonable to explore the utility of senicapoc, a KCa3.1 blocker, as a novel treatment of asthma. This study will test the ability of senicapoc to alleviate bronchospasm induced by an exercise challenge in subjects with asthma. Exercise challenge studies have been conducted for many currently approved asthma medications. Exercise challenge studies provide a controlled environment and test conditions to investigate the potential usefulness of novel study drugs for the treatment of asthma. This study will be the first to test the ability of senicapoc to reduce airway bronchospasm after exercise challenge, which is one clinically important manifestation of asthma seen in patients. In summary, with a demonstrated safety profile across a wide range of doses in humans and efficacy in an animal model of allergic bronchospasm and hyper-responsiveness, the initiation of exploratory studies of senicapoc for treatment of asthma is justified.