Cardior Pharmaceuticals raises €15 million to develop first-in-class ncRNA therapeutics and diagnostics for patients with myocardial infarction and heart failure

Cardior Pharmaceuticals, a spin-off from Hannover Medical School (MHH), today announced the completion of a €15 million Series A financing round led by LSP (Life Sciences Partners), Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), BioMedPartners (with its new BioMedInvest III Fund) and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). Cardior is pioneering its proprietary RNA technology to revolutionize predicting and treating heart failure. The molecular targets are non-coding RNAs linked to heart failure development that simultaneously control cardiac growth and calcium handling/contractility of cardiomyocytes. The targeting of certain specific non-coding RNAs reverses maladaptive cardiac remodeling and restores normal cardiac function.

“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” said Dr. Claudia Ulbrich, Chief Executive Officer of Cardior.

“The significant funding raised at this stage of development of the company will provide the resources for an ambitious development plan for our lead compound,” added Prof. Thomas Thum, who is joining the management team as Chief Scientific Officer.

“We are very excited to be leading this financing” said Dr. Joachim Rothe, Managing Partner at LSP and a Director of Cardior. “There has been a painful lack of scientific and clinical progress in the cardiovascular field for the past 15 years, and Cardior is well positioned to change this.”

About Cardior Pharmaceuticals
Cardior Pharmaceuticals is a privately held German Biotech company pioneering the next generation of non-coding RNA based therapeutics in heart failure. Prof. Thomas Thum and his team have built a globally renowned expertise in the non-coding RNA field. In their scientific work they showed that targeting of certain specific non-coding RNAs reverses maladaptive cardiac remodeling and restores normal cardiac function. In 2016 Cardior was founded as a spin-off from Hannover Medical School, one of Europe’s leading medical centers. The intellectual property was licensed from Medical School Hannover, the Max-Planck-Society and from several world renowned French Institutes.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is Germany’s most active seed stage investor. With €576 million under management (€272 million HTGF I, €304 million HTGF II), we provide financing for technology-driven companies active in a wide range of fields, including Robotics, IoT and Energy, Medtech and Biotech, Chemicals and Software. Investors in this public-private partnership include the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group and numerous strategic corporate investors, including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Innogy, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss.

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Dr. Marianne Mertens
Schlegelstraße 2
53113 Bonn
+ 49 228 82300 159
m.mertens@htgf.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de