European Biotechs Developing Next-Generation of Cardiometabolic and Precision Cardiology Therapeutics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), including coronary heart disease (CHD), cerebrovascular disease (CVD), and peripheral artery disease (PAD), are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, accounting for approximately 32% of global deaths each year.1 Over the past decade, improved understanding of the physiological and molecular pathology of the cardiovascular system has enabled research to target the cardio-immune and cardiometabolic systems, leading to the development of novel cell and gene therapies aimed at enhancing cardiac regeneration (Figure 1). These therapies include proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) inhibitors and sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors, which can be combined with approved treatments to reduce cardiovascular events and mortality significantly.2 Increasingly, companies are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to improve diagnosis, personalize treatments, and enhance patient outcomes in CVDs.3For example, France-based Owkin has partnered with Amgen to use AI to improve cardiovascular risk predictions and with Bristol Myers Squibb to identify biomarkers that support cardiovascular drug development programmes.4,5 In May 2024, AstraZeneca collaborated with UK-based BenevolentAI to identify novel targets for heart failure.6

What CVD Therapies Are the Pharma Industry Investing In?

Large pharmaceutical companies have made several strategic acquisitions and collaborations in the CVD arena in recent years. In May 2024, Novo Nordisk acquired the German-based Cardior Pharmaceuticals to expand its cardiometabolic franchise and gain access to its CDR1321, a microRNA-132 inhibitor for the treatment of heart failure. Novo has also partnered with Denmark-based Ascendis Pharma A/S to evaluate its long-acting glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1)/peptide prodrug platform in cardiometabolic disease.8,9 In June 2025, Eli Lilly acquired US-based Verve Therapeutics for $1 billion to gain access to VERVE-102, a gene-editing medicine targeting PCSK9 for individuals with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH).10Amgen is collaborating with Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals to develop olpasiran for CVD associated with elevated lipoproteins.11 In March 2026, Roche entered into a collaboration with Denmark-based Zealand Pharma to evaluate petrelintide, an amylin receptor agonist, in Phase 2 for cardiometabolic disease.12 In 2024, Novo Nordisk’s GLP-1 receptor agonist Ozempic/Wegovy (semaglutide) received a label expansion supporting the reduction of major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes and obese adults.13

What Are Some European Players to Watch Out for in the CVD Space?

Several European biotechs are evaluating novel cardiometabolic and cardio-regenerative agents in clinical trials (Table I).

CardiaTec Biosciences (UK) isa start-up that leverages its PULSE, a multi-omic data and computational platform, to develop first-in-class cardiovascular therapies.14 In October 2025, it teamed up with the German-based innoVitro to look beyond beta-blockers and calcium channel blockers to identify novel targets for treating hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM); the project is funded by Innovate UK and ZIM.15 CardiacTec Bio has completed Seed and Series A funding, raising US$6.5 million from 7 investors, including 3 partner investors: Montage Ventures, Panacea Capital, and Laidlaw Scholars Ventures.16 It is currently focusing on atherosclerosis, heart failure, and cardiovascular inflammation.

CellProthera (France) is a cell therapy companydeveloping CellProthera, an autologous 34+ stem cell therapy for patients with heart failure post-myocardial infarction. The company plans to initiate a 400-patient phase III study in the United States and Europe in the first quarter of 2027.17The treatment is administered via a transendocardial catheter directly to the site of action. In February 2026, the company partnered with the contract development and manufacturing organization CELLforCURE to support its clinical trial programme. 18

Evotec (Germany) has developed a CVD drug discovery engine that integrates multi-omics approaches, which can be combined with its induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-based high-resolution atlas of human cardiac tissue to identify novel biomarkers and advance precision medicine.19 In May 2024, Evotec partnered with Bayer to develop precision cardiology therapeutics.20 Evotec’s iCM Heart Repair programme, in collaboration with the Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf “UKE,” aims to develop a first-class, non-immunogenic allogeneic iCM for heart failure treatment.21

HAYA Therapeutics (Switzerland) is a biotech company developing precision RNA-guided, genome-targeting therapeutics that reprogram disease-driving cell states for rare, common, chronic, and age-related diseases. Its lead program, Wisper/HTX-001, targeted non-obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.22 In May 2025, it raised US$65 million in a Series A funding round. Led by Sofinnova Partners and Ealybird Venture Capital, Eli Lilly and Company, ATHOS, +ND Capital, Alexandria Venture Investments, and LifeLink Ventures. 23

HeartBeat.bio (Austria), founded in 2021, is an innovative tech company developing next-generation heart failure therapies using its Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform. The company received €4.5 million (US$5.25 million) in pre-series A funding from AWS Gründungsfonds II, i&i Biotech Fund, Invest AG, red-stars.com data AG, and Tensor Ventures Fund to advance the development of its organoid screening platform.24 In September 2025, Boehringer Ingelheim entered into an agreement with HeartBeat.bio to develop gene therapy for genetic cardiomyopathies.25 HeartBeat.bio’s Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform uses chamber-like cardiac organoids derived from induced pluripotent stem cells iPSCs to mimic key features of inherited heart diseases. On July 7, 2025, the company and biotx.ai GmbH entered into a strategic partnership to identify and validate novel therapeutic targets for heart failure.26

Novoheart (Germany) is a global stem cell biotechnology company dedicated to engineering bioartificial human heart surrogates through bioengineering. Novoheart’s mini-Heart Platform consists of 3 advanced engineered-tissue formats fabricated from human stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, designed to assess specific cardiac functional outputs to support product selection and development. It also provides third parties with a “Heart-In-A-Jar” platform that can provide clinically informative evaluations of human cardiac pump performance.27

ProQR Therapeutics (The Netherlands) is pioneering a next-generation RNA technology called Axiomer, which uses a cell’s own editing machinery, ADAR, to make specific single-nucleotide edits in RNA to reverse a mutation or modulate protein expression. This technology could potentially yield a new class of medicines for both rare and prevalent diseases with unmet need. It has developed a portfolio of products, including AX-1412 targeting B4GALT, AX-1005 for cardiovascular diseases, and AX-0601 for cardiometabolic diseases. In 2021, the company signed a global licensing and research collaboration with Eli Lilly to develop novel Axiomer RNA therapies to treat genetic disorders.28

Silence Therapeutics (UK) is a global clinical-stage biotechnology company that has leveraged its messenger RNA interference (mRNAi) GOLD platform to develop innovative small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that precisely target and silence disease-associated genes to treat cardiovascular disease, haematology, and rare diseases. The company has completed a phase 3 trial with zerlasiran in cardiovascular diseases and is also developing divesiran in phase 2 for polycythaemia vera. It is co-developing SLN312, which silences angiopoietin-like 3 (ANGPTL3), with AstraZeneca for the treatment of dyslipidemia, and has several other siRNAs in preclinical development to treat obesity and manage cholesterol.29

Zealand Pharma A/S (Denmark) is a biotechnology company focused on advancing medicines for obesity and metabolic health by leveraging AI/ML technologies. In December 2025, Zealand signed a US$2.5 billion oral cardiometabolic deal with OTR Therapeutics to leverage OTR's oral small-molecule platform to Develop Novel Therapeutics for multiple targets in cardiometabolic diseases.30

Zealand Pharma's pipeline includes the amylin analogue petrelintide, which is in phase 2 clinical
trials, in development with Roche, and the glucagon/GLP-receptor dual agonist survodutide, which is in phase 3 development with Boehringer Ingelheim.31,32 In March 2026, it established a US research hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to expand its drug discovery capabilities.33

Future Opportunities in CVD

Over the past few years, significant progress has been made in targeting cardiometabolic and cardioimmune processes. Currently, European biotechs are shifting their focus towards developing next-generation cardiometabolic therapies and precision cardio therapeutics based on cell and gene therapies that address the root causes of CVDs. The cardiovascular drugs market is expected to be worth US$153.7 billion in 2024. It is anticipated to grow from US$157.8 billion in 2025 to US$214.9 billion in 2034, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.5% during this period.34 Increased investment by the pharmaceutical industry in developing innovative drug therapies will drive future growth. Large pharma companies such as Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Roche have undertaken strategic acquisitions to access late-stage products and established partnerships to license early-stage products to enhance their cardiometabolic inflammatory portfolios. This business approach is likely to persist in the near future as high-risk, high-reward precision cardiology therapies targeting significant unmet needs progress through clinical development.

References

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About the Author

Cheryl Barton, PhD, is founder and director of PharmaVision, Pharmavision.co.uk.