On April 12, 2023 Navrogen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specialized in developing therapies for cancer and immune-related disorders, reported that it will be presenting new preclinical data on its NAV-001 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and NAV-003 bispecific programs at the 2023 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Conference in Orlando, Florida on April 17 and 18 (Press release, Navrogen, APR 12, 2023, View Source [SID1234630016]).

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NAV-001 and NAV-003 both target mesothelin, a cell surface protein over-expressed on various malignancies, including breast, colon, lung and mesothelioma cancers. Certain ADCs and therapeutic antibodies targeting mesothelin are negatively affected by Humoral Immuno-Oncology (HIO) factors that are produced in the tumor microenvironment. These HIO factors are able to directly bind to affected antibody-based agents and suppress their immune-effector activities as well as suppress target cell internalization, thereby lowering their therapeutic efficacy. To overcome this mechanism of suppression, Navrogen has employed its proprietary HIO factor screening and block-removed immunoglobulin technology (BRITE) platforms to engineer HIO refractory mesothelin-targeting agents. NAV-001 and NAV-003 both have the BRITE feature integrated to avoid suppression by HIO factors, while NAV-001 contains a novel highly toxic payload, and NAV-003 is configured to have an optimized anti-CD3/anti-MSLN bispecific format to elicit robust CD3-redirected T-cell mediated cytotoxicity. These drug candidates have demonstrated significant in vivo efficacy across a wide array of mesothelin-positive cancer models.

"We look forward to sharing scientific data around our programs and technology platforms with the AACR (Free AACR Whitepaper) community", said Dr. Luigi Grasso, Navrogen’s Chief Scientific Officer. "Based on the efficacy and preliminary safety data, we are advancing our NAV-001 and NAV-003 programs forward for clinical testing in HIO suppressed cancers identified by diagnostic screens of various cancer types".