Cambridge biotech Navitor Pharmaceuticals just closed out an impressive $33 million Series B, meant to propel the research from lauded MIT and Whitehead Institute researcher Dr. David Sabatini.
This round will help Navitor develop its pipeline of small molecule drugs that modulate the mTORC1 pathway, which controls cellular growth and protein synthesis. Several disease are spurred by a dysregulation of this complex – particularly those associated with aging, CEO George Vlasuk said in a phone interview.
“It’s the only cellular complex that, when it’s downregulated, can extend life – whether you’re looking at yeast or at mice,” Vlasuk said.
The funding should be enough to push early drug candidates through proof of clinical efficacy and safety testing, Vlasuk said. Navitor plans to hit the clinic by late 2017 or early 2018.
More so than chasing mTORC1’s anti-aging potential, Navitor is interested in finding therapies for metabolic disease, neurodegeneration and cancer – all diseases that lead to debilitation in patients, making the aging process more painful.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Navitor is not disclosing what indication it’s after – but that it’s looking at a number of rare and chronic disease areas. Type 2 diabetes is on the company’s radar.
Navitor’s experimental drugs have the potential to either “turn up” or “turn down” nutrient and growth factor-responsive cellular pathways, restoring normal mTORC1 function and potentially correcting a wide range of disorders, Vlasuk said.
The Series B was led by new investor Brace Pharma Capital. Other participants include Remeditex Ventures, Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures, Polaris Partners, Atlas Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Innovation and SR One – as well as high net worth biotech investors.
[Image courtesy of Navitor Pharmaceuticals]
