Navitor Pharmaceuticals

700 Main Street
Cambridge
Massachusetts
02139
United States

Website: http://www.navitorpharma.com/

Email: media@navitorpharma.com

NextGen Class of 2015
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About Navitor Pharmaceuticals

About Navitor Pharmaceuticals
A powerful therapeutic approach targeting the central regulator of nutrient signaling, cellular metabolism and growth
New scientific insights are emerging regarding the primal signaling pathways that direct an organism’s metabolic response to conditions in its environment—such as dynamic changes in the availability of nutrients, energy, oxygen and other factors—and the role of these metabolic signaling pathways in disease. Navitor’s drug discovery platform leverages proprietary intellectual property and know-how related to key targets within nutrient signaling pathways and their fundamental role in disease processes. Our proprietary approach targeting nutrient signaling offers an entirely new treatment approach for a broad range of chronic and rare diseases.
Selective regulation of mTORC1 offers a new and targeted approach to expand the therapeutic potential of a clinically validated pathway
The company’s proprietary drug discovery platform is built on new insights into the mTORC1-mediated nutrient signaling pathway. mTORC1 is at the center of the signaling network that integrates the cell’s response to nutrient availability thereby regulating cellular growth and function. Navitor was founded based on groundbreaking discoveries related to the mTORC1 pathway and nutrient signaling mechanisms by its scientific founder Dr. David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Dr. Sabatini’s work has been instrumental in the discovery of the mTOR kinase and the two multi-protein complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2, each of which mediates distinct aspects of the signaling network that regulates the activity of the mTOR kinase and the cell’s response to the environment.
Navitor’s proprietary drug discovery platform is designed to develop first-in-class selective modulators of mTORC1. While several approved drugs target the broad mTOR pathway for specific disease applications, the use of current mTOR-targeted drugs has been limited since they inhibit both mTORC1 and mTORC2, leading to undesirable side-effects when used chronically. The design of selective drugs targeting mTORC1, which is the focus of Navitor’s drug discovery and development efforts, is highly desirable since it is the key mTOR complex that regulates protein synthesis, cellular metabolism and growth in response to nutrient availability. As a critical regulatory pathway, mTORC1 is often dysregulated in multiple diseases across several important therapeutic areas.
Proprietary platform targeting mTORC1 to develop novel product candidates for a range of diseases
Navitor’s technology is applicable to a wide range of diseases in which nutrient signaling via the mTORC1 pathway is dysregulated. Navitor’s approach is to selectively “turn up” or “turn down” these nutrient-responsive cellular pathways in order to restore normal mTORC1 function.
When the mTORC1 pathway becomes hyperactive in its signaling response to excess nutrients, it is responsible for diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases, as well as rare metabolic and mitochondrial diseases. Conversely, the reduced response of the mTORC1 pathway is commonly associated with deficits in skeletal muscle growth observed in musculoskeletal diseases such as age-related sarcopenia, cachexia due to disease, and muscle atrophy due to immobilization or orthopedic surgery.

By selectively targeting aberrant cellular nutrient signaling mediated by the mTORC1 pathway, Navitor is creating a new class of therapeutics designed to rebalance these signals to restore normal function and address the underlying biology of multiple diseases.
World-class team and proprietary technology positioned for successful drug development
Navitor is led by an experienced management and scientific team with a proven track record for discovering groundbreaking drugs and building successful drug development companies. The company’s founding intellectual property is based on the scientific work of Dr. David Sabatini at the Whitehead Institute. The company is backed by leading financial and corporate investors, including Polaris Partners, Atlas Venture, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, SR One and The Longevity Fund.

25 articles with Navitor Pharmaceuticals