# Navrogen

> Navrogen is a privately held Pennsylvania biotechnology company building antibody therapies, antibody-drug conjugates, bispecifics and small molecules designed to resist or reverse tumor-produced humoral immunosuppression. Its thesis grew from clinical observations that factors such as CA125 can bind to cancer antibodies and blunt their activity. The company’s lead preclinical programs include the mesothelin-targeting ADC NAV-001, the CA125-refractory anti-CD20 antibody NAV-006 and the CA125 antagonist NAV-005, supported by its BRITE engineering and HIO screening platforms.

- **Founded:** 2018
- **Headquarters:** Cheyney, Pennsylvania, United States
- **Founders:** Nicholas C. Nicolaides, Ph.D. (President and CEO), Luigi Grasso, Ph.D. (Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer)
- **Team size:** 2-10 employees on LinkedIn; four employees were listed in the supplied company record
- **Products:** BRITE, HIO screening platform, NAV-001, NAV-006, NAV-005
- **Notable:** Built a disclosed pipeline of eight antibody, ADC, bispecific, immunotoxin and small-molecule programs around a common HIO thesis., Published peer-reviewed preclinical evidence linking CA125 to impaired mesothelin-antibody activity and describing NAV-001., Established a National Cancer Institute collaboration to study CA125 and rituximab response in hematologic cancers.

## Products & services

- **BRITE** — Block-Removed Immunoglobulin Technology used to identify and alter antibody regions that bind immunosuppressive HIO factors, creating HIO-refractory antibodies and antibody formats.
- **HIO screening platform** — Assays for finding tumor-produced humoral immunosuppressive factors and screening antibodies or next-generation formats for susceptibility.
- **NAV-001** — Preclinical mesothelin-targeting antibody-drug conjugate selected to resist CA125-mediated inhibition and deliver a topoisomerase II-inhibiting payload in mesothelin-positive solid tumors.
- **NAV-006** — Preclinical next-generation anti-CD20 antibody engineered to remove the CA125-binding region found in rituximab, for HIO-positive non-Hodgkin lymphoma and related CD20 malignancies.
- **NAV-005** — Preclinical high-affinity MUC16/CA125 antagonist intended to restore antibody-dependent and complement-dependent killing and improve ADC internalization in CA125-positive cancers.
- **NAV-003** — Preclinical mesothelin-CD3 bispecific antibody designed to improve cytotoxicity in humoral-immunosuppressed tumors.
- **NAV-201** — Discovery-stage small molecule that binds CD16/Fc receptor and is intended to activate natural-killer cells in the presence of HIO factors.
- **NAV-004** — Discovery-stage de-immunized CD25-targeted immunotoxin designed to remove regulatory T cells from the tumor microenvironment.

## Achievements

- Built a disclosed pipeline of eight antibody, ADC, bispecific, immunotoxin and small-molecule programs around a common HIO thesis.
- Published peer-reviewed preclinical evidence linking CA125 to impaired mesothelin-antibody activity and describing NAV-001.
- Established a National Cancer Institute collaboration to study CA125 and rituximab response in hematologic cancers.
- Received European and Japanese patents in 2025 covering HIO-refractory engineering and NAV-001.
- Received a U.S. patent in January 2026 covering CA125/MUC16 antagonists including the NAV-005 approach.
- Reported a Chinese patent for NAV-001 in July 2026.
- Presented NAV-006 and ICAM-1-refractory antibody engineering work at AACR meetings.

## Latest updates

- **2026-07** — Navrogen reported that China granted a patent covering the composition and use of NAV-001 for mesothelin-expressing cancers.
- **2026-07** — A peer-reviewed BMC Cancer paper described NAV-005 as a high-affinity MUC16/CA125 antagonist that restored antibody and ADC activity in preclinical assays.
- **2026-01** — The company announced a U.S. composition-of-matter and use patent covering its NAV-005 CA125 antagonist approach.
- **2025-10** — European and Japanese patent offices granted claims covering HIO-refractory engineering and NAV-001.
- **2025-05** — Navrogen announced publication of preclinical work on the CA125-refractory NAV-006 anti-CD20 antibody.
- **2025-03** — The company announced an ICAM-1-refractory antibody engineering publication and AACR presentation.

## Links

- Website: https://navrogen.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/navrogen

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/navrogen
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-22