NAVIGEN--Blazing New Trails For HIV and Cancer Treatments.

• Author: Simpson, Brandi
• Position: Drug overview

Navigen, Inc. is a drug discovery and development company expecting to have their first therapeutic in clinical testing early next year. Based in Salt Lake City, the company is striving to be the world's leader in establishing an important new drug class, D-peptide therapeutics. Navigen believes that D-peptides are the answer for many drug targets thought to be "undruggable."

Peptide therapeutics, which are composed of naturally occurring L-amino acids, have been used to treat human disease for over 100 years (insulin is a well-known example). Therapies composed of naturally-occurring peptides could be ideal drugs; they are generally safer than small molecule drugs and are small enough to get to hard-to reach targets. However, peptides don't last very long before the body breaks them down. This means that most peptide drugs must be taken frequently and at relatively high doses, especially when prolonged exposure is necessary.

D-peptides do not share this limitation. Composed of D-amino acids, which are the mirror image of L-amino acids, D-peptides don't occur in nature and the enzymes in the body that are programed to break down peptides don't detect them. This gives D-peptides a significant advantage over natural peptides as therapeutics, since they can remain intact in the body...