Cardior Pharmaceuticals, a Germany-based developer of therapies for heart failure, has closed a €15m ($16.5m) series A round co-led by pharmaceutical companies Boehringer Ingelheim and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Venture capital firm Life Sciences Partners also co-led the round, which included public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds and VC firm BioMedPartners. Boehringer Ingelheim participated through its corporate venturing unit, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund.
Cardior Pharmaceuticals is using RNA technology to predict and treat heart failure, and its lead candidate is an inhibitor of a molecular master switch that controls pathological alterations of the heart following stress or injury.
The spinout is based on research conducted by professor Thomas Thum and Sandor Batkai at Hannover Medical School.
Cardior announced the funding together with the appointment of Claudia Ulbrich as chief executive. She said: “It is a rare opportunity to develop cutting-edge science in the area of cardiovascular diseases with a high unmet medical need.
“I am delighted to join Cardior at this exciting development stage of the company and together with its motivated team, quickly put on the map a novel class of drugs and companion diagnostics with the potential to prevent and overcome heart failure.”