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news.Navitor Pharmaceuticals, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines by targeting cellular nutrient signaling, has announced a $23.5m Series A financing.
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Proceeds from the financing will be used to augment Navitor’s proprietary drug discovery platform and accelerate the development of a pipeline of novel drugs that target cellular nutrient signaling via the mTORC1 pathway to address a wide range of diseases, including metabolic, neurodegenerative, autoimmune and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as several rare disorders.
Investors in the Series A financing include Polaris Partners, Atlas Venture, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, SR One and The Longevity Fund.
Navitor’s proprietary drug discovery platform is designed to develop first-in-class selective modulators of mTORC1, which control the cell’s central signaling in response to nutrient availability, particularly amino acids.
The selective modulation of mTORC1 offers a new and targeted approach to create new medicines for a variety of clinical indications and to significantly expand the therapeutic potential of a clinically validated pathway.
Navitor scientific founder David Sabatini has led research in the molecular regulation of the mTORC1 pathway, and his discoveries are seminal contributions to the field of cellular nutrient signaling. The company has exclusive access from the Whitehead Institute to fundamental intellectual property from Dr Sabatini’s laboratory relating to nutrient sensing via the mTORC1 pathway for use in pharmaceutical and other applications.
The Series A financing will enable the expansion of Navitor’s drug discovery platform, including the further development of the company’s proprietary technologies, tools and assays to address the complexity of the mTORC1 pathway.
Depending on the targeted disease, the company’s novel therapeutics have the potential to either turn up or turn down nutrient-responsive cellular pathways to restore normal mTORC1 function. 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.