NampEVA is a new generation of anti-cancer drugs based on interference RNA (RNAi) technology.

The central dogma of biology is that DNA makes RNA which in turn, makes protein. It is now understood that the abnormal production of proteins is the cause of most human disease. RNAi creates the opportunity to silence the production of disease-causing proteins and therefore, represents a whole new approach for innovative medicines. For this RNAi technology received the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology. RNAi-based drugs act by blocking the action of disease-causing proteins.

NampEVA functions by blocking the action of heat shock protein-27 (Hsp27), known to be highly expressed in certain cancers and demonstrated to confer resistance to chemotherapeutic agents through its anti-apoptotic actions. NampEVA concomitantly increases tumor’s proteasome function, which in turn results in efficient antigen presentation and stimulates cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CD8⁺ T cell) memory and tumor killing functions.

Currently, most anti-cancer drugs function by killing all rapidly growing cells or stimulating the immune response against tumors. NampEVA is unique because it functions in multiple ways; (i) only targets cancer cells, (ii) kills cancer cells my disrupting anti-apoptotic mechanisms, (iii) kills cancer cells by disrupting cytoskeleton formation (important for metastasis formation), (iv) stimulates anti-cancer immune responses, which leads to long lasting memory responses. We predict that NampEVA will be effective against cancers which highly express Hsp27, including breast cancer, prostate cancer, uterine cancer, ovarian cancer, head & neck cancer, gastric cancer and cancers arising from the nervous system and urinary system.