Cardior Pharmaceuticals raises €15 million and appoints CEO and CSO
HANNOVER, Germany, May 11, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Cardior Pharmaceuticals, 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.
"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."
In conjunction with this financing, Cardior appointed Dr. Claudia Ulbrich as Chief Executive Officer. Claudia brings with her two decades of operational management and corporate development experience in pharma and biotech including publicly traded companies.
"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.
"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.
With a translational approach and multiple established academic collaborations, Cardior is uniquely positioned to apply innovative first-in-class therapy for myocardial infarction and heart failure patients. Cardior is currently developing non-coding RNA based assets and companion diagnostics. Additionally, Cardior has access to a great variety of discovery programs of undisclosed targets of Prof. Thum's pipeline.
While Dechert LLP (Berthold Hummel and Julia Braun, both Corporate, Munich) represented Life Sciences Partners, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund, Bristol-Myers Squibb, BioMedPartners (with its new BioMedInvest III Fund) and High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) on all legal and tax aspects of the transaction, Cardior Pharmaceuticals and founders was advised by Fieldfisher (Dr. Stefanie Greifeneder, Commercial IP Munich).
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