Novo Nordisk has announced that it will be expanding its cardiovascular disease pipeline by acquiring Cardior Pharmaceuticals for up to €1.025bn.
Cardior focuses on the discovery and development of therapies that target RNA to prevent, repair and reverse diseases of the heart.
Affecting more than 65 million people globally, heart failure is most commonly caused by heart conditions such as ischaemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy and high blood pressure. It cannot be cured, with current therapies focused on slowing, but not stopping, disease progression.
The acquisition will give Novo access to Cardior’s lead compound, CDR132L, which is currently being evaluated in a mid-stage trial in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction who have previously experienced a heart attack.
The candidate is designed to halt and partially reverse cellular pathology by selectively blocking abnormal levels of the microRNA molecule miR-132, potentially resulting in long-lasting improvements to heart function.
In a phase 1b trial, CDR132L was reported to be safe and well tolerated, and results suggested cardiac functional improvements in heart failure patients compared to placebo.
Novo has said it also plans to initiate a phase 2 trial investigating CDR132L in a chronic heart failure population with cardiac hypertrophy, a condition that causes the walls of the heart muscle to become thick and stiff.
Martin Holst Lange, executive vice president for development at Novo, said: “We have been impressed by the scientific work carried out by the Cardior team, especially on CDR132L, which has a distinctive mode of action and potential to become a first-in-class therapy designed to halt or partially reverse the course of disease for people living with heart failure.”
Though exact financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, Novo said the €1.025bn includes an upfront payment and additional payments if certain development and commercial milestones are achieved.
Also commenting on the intended acquisition, Claudia Ulbrich, chief executive officer and co-founder of Cardior, said: “Novo Nordisk is the ideal partner based on its deep clinical and commercial expertise combined with its resources to accelerate our late-stage development programme, including through larger registrational studies. We look forward to advancing CDR132L towards market approval.”