CHEYNEY, PA — Navrogen, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company specialized in developing therapies for cancer and immune-related disorders, announced the opening of its R&D operations at the Cheyney University science center located in Chester County, PA.

The move enables the company to expand its proprietary Humoral Immuno Oncology (HIO) technology discovery efforts to identify HIO-suppressed cancer types and development of therapeutic agents that can unlock a patient’s immune system to combat their cancer.

A subset of tumors produce immune checkpoint factors that suppress a patient’s immune response to attack and destroy dysregulated cancer cells. HIO-suppressed cancers produce proteins, called HIO-factors, that suppress antibody-mediated “humoral” immune responses that are generated by a patient’s immune system to attack dysregulated cancer cells.

These factors can suppress antibody-mediated tumor cell killing of those generated by a patient’s humoral immune response as well as antibody-based drugs including Rituxan® in non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and Herceptin® in metastatic breast cancer.

Navrogen’s mission focuses on therapeutic solutions to reverse HIO suppression through proprietary screening platforms to identify tumor produced HIO-factors as well as develop therapeutic agents that can overcome a HIO-factor’s immuno-suppressive effect.

“The move to Cheyney enables us to transition to the next phase of our strategic growth plan as we continue to advance the development of our technology platforms and experimental therapies to identify and combat HIO-suppressed cancer types,” stated Nicholas Nicolaides, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Navrogen. “As part of the relationship with Cheyney, we will teach students the concepts of cancer immunity and provide them first-hand training in biomedical research to support the University’s mission of bringing unique experiential learning to their students as the company leverages the use of Cheyney’s state-of-the-art research facility and operational maintenance.”