Nventa Biopharmaceuticals Corporation is developing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of viral infections and cancer, with a focus on diseases caused by the human papillomavirus (HPV).  Nventa’s proprietary CoVal™ fusions, are created by recombinant DNA technology that covalently fuses heat shock proteins to target antigens, thereby stimulating cellular immune system responses to specific diseases.

About Heat Shock Proteins

Stress proteins, also referred to as heat shock proteins (Hsp), play a fundamental role in life-essential processes and are associated with many areas of biology and medicine. One important feature of stress proteins is their recognition by the immune system. Research has demonstrated that the stress proteins present in invading pathogens, such as bacteria, parasites and fungi, are key targets for the immune system, and protective responses can be generated to such pathogen stress proteins. Moreover, many aspects of the immune system can be activated by stress proteins, giving rise to humoral (antibody) responses as well as cellular (eg. T cell) responses. In particular, one type of immune response, mediated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), or "killer cells," can be effectively triggered by stress proteins. These CTL are thought to be one of the body's most potent defenses against diseased cells, such as those infected by viruses or altered by cancer.

Nventa captures the immunostimulatory powers of stress proteins in its fusion technology, where a stress protein is genetically recombined with another protein (an antigen) to create a single hybrid molecule. This fusion protein can be used to generate antigen-specific immune responses, which potentially can protect against or treat diseases where the antigen is present. Since this antigen can be chosen from a wide variety of sources, the spectrum of human diseases which potentially can be treated by fusion technology encompass not only microbial pathogens, such as bacteria, parasites and fungi, but also viruses, and cancer. Nventa believes that this fusion technology represents a re-useable platform for the development of immunotherapeutics for a number of diseases.

About CoVal™ Fusion Proteins