Profile

Trevena Inc is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, headquartered in Chesterbrook, Pennsylvania, USA, and is involved in the discovery and development of G-protein coupled receptors biased ligands. Trevena was founded in 2007 with technology licensed from Duke University, which originated in the labs of company founders Robert Lefkowitz winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Howard Rockman. Trevena's approach to drug discovery is based on utilizing ligand bias, or functional selectivity, at GPCR targets to produce drugs with improved efficacy and reduced side effect profiles. Trevena was named one of the top 15 US startups of 2008 by Business Week. Trevena's expertise lies in engineering "biased ligands" that activate only the beneficial signaling pathways downstream of a GPCR to unlock new biology and avoid drug adverse effects. Trevena's pipeline currently includes a clinical stage mu-opioid biased ligand for post-operative pain, and discovery-stage programs for chronic pain, migraine, and Parkinson's disease.