Navnita Nawar. Bangladeshi researcher and entrepreneur living in Canada. His name appeared in the list of 30 young leaders under the age of 30 in Toronto, Canada by the world famous magazine “Forbes” on August 9. Hear the story of 28-year-old Navnita Nawar, co-founder of HDAX Therapeutics from Bangladesh…
Forbes publishes its first ever ’30 Under 30 Local Toronto’ list. Some of the young people on the list help make drones safer in cities, some make alternative plastics from food waste, some make artificial intelligence-encoded building materials. According to Forbes, Toronto is currently the center of business and technology life in Canada. Here the youth are working with various innovative ideas, innovative initiatives, which will shake the future world. That’s why Forbes has made a separate list for Toronto. Bangladeshi-origin Navnita Nawar and Thai-origin Pimuapa Mansiongkul were included in the list as young researchers and entrepreneurs. The two co-founded a Toronto-based company called HDAX Therapeutics.
HDAX Therapeutics
According to Forbes, Navnita and Pimuapa’s HDAX Therapeutics are developing the first-ever peripheral neuropathy treatment or drug that will benefit more than three million people worldwide. PN patients suffer from pain, numbness, paralysis, and immobility caused by chemotherapy for cancer, diabetes, trauma, or genetic damage to nerves. There is still no medicine for this disease, which can prevent its growth. HDAX is on track to develop promising drugs for patients as early as 2025. A women-led team can color the lives of PN patients worldwide. The institute is working in partnership with the best cancer research clinics. HDAX was founded after five years of research at the University of Toronto. It is run by entrepreneurs with PhD degrees. HDAX has so far raised $800,000 in funding for new drug discovery. HDAX Therapeutics has two other co-founders apart from Navneetha Nawar and Pimuapa Mansiongkul. They are – Executive Chairman Dr. Roman Fleck and University of Toronto Professor Patrick Gunning.
Activities of HDAX Therapeutics
HDAX Therapeutics aims to discover drugs for diseases for which drugs have not yet been developed. However, drug discovery and bringing it to the clinical stage is a matter of time. HDAX Therapeutics is working keeping these things in mind. Currently the institute is only researching the diagnosis of PN disease. This process is 10 years. HDAX has also applied for two patent rights. The drug has already been tested on mice. Maybe in the next two years it will be tested on patients.
Growing up and how on the way to Canada…
Navnita was born and raised in Narayanganj. Born in 1994, Navnita’s father, Mahbubur Rahman, owns a garment factory. Mother Gulshan Parveen is a housewife. The eldest of one brother and one sister, Navnita passed A-Levels from Dhaka’s Aga Khan School and moved to Canada in 2013 to graduate in Biomedical Chemistry at the University of Toronto on a partial scholarship. Navneetha also obtained her PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the same university. Along with that, the research work continues. In 2021, Pimuapa formed HDAX Therapeutics with Mansiongkul. He also gave occasional classes at the University of Toronto.
The excitement and anticipation of Navnita
After seeing her name in Forbes’ ’30 under 30 Local Toronto’ list, Canadian expatriate Bangladeshi researcher and entrepreneur Navnita Nawar wrote on Twitter, ‘Thank you Forbes for this outstanding recognition. As well as everyone who has been a part of our journey. It is surreal for a woman born and raised in Bangladesh to be recognized in Toronto and the world.
For this list, Forbes asked for nominations of various youth initiatives. Shortlisted from numerous nominations. After knowing the details of the work, Forbes finalized the list. We can only dream about the Bangladeshi researcher and entrepreneur Navnita Nawar who is on that list. Can’t wait for their peripheral neuropathy treatment or medicine!
