Nirogy raises $16.5 million to drug transporter proteins

Nirogy Therapeutics has raised $16.5 million in series A financing to develop small-molecule drugs that target solute carriers, a class of transporter proteins that move ions, metabolites, and signaling molecules across cell membranes. Nirogy’s lead drug candidate is a lactate transport inhibitor that the firm hopes will stop the excretion of lactic acid that some tumors use to suppress antitumor immunity. The Boston-based start-up also has programs for cancer and an autoimmune disease. Another Boston start-up, Jnana Therapeutics, is also focused on solute carrier drug discovery.