Novoheart Signs Agreement with Sumocor to Develop Novel Therapeutics for Heart Failure

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Feb. 14, 2018) - Novoheart ("Novoheart" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:NVH), through its wholly owned US subsidiary, has entered into a commercial agreement with Sumocor LLC ("Sumocor"), a biotech company based in New York City that is focused on the development of therapeutics for cardiovascular diseases. Pursuant to the agreement, Novoheart will test Sumocor's candidate therapeutics in three phases on Novoheart's MyHeart™ Platform of human bioengineered heart constructs, to provide thorough pre-clinical assessment of efficacy and cardiotoxicity in the context of the human heart tissues and chambers in preparation for filing an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the United States Food and Drug Administration by Sumocor.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death and morbidity worldwide. Sumocor is developing small molecule therapeutics that target SUMO1, a "chaperone" protein that regulates the activity of key transporter genes, which is deficient in the failing heart.

Phase I of the agreement is to focus on intensive toxicity screening of Sumocor's lead compounds on Novoheart's MyHeart™ Platform, following which additional candidates may be screened for efficacy as well as toxicity in Phase II. In Phase III, the best candidate(s) will be comprehensively profiled using the proprietary human heart-in-a-jar technology. The multi-phase project is expected to last 10 months, generating an estimated income of $380,000.

"Novoheart and Sumocor share a common interest in heart disease and therapeutics: we are thrilled to be partnering with such a pioneering company with the same vision and complementary strengths for developing potentially safer and more effective novel therapeutics to address a global healthcare issue," said Novoheart CEO Ronald Li.

"We are excited to test our compounds in the novel platform that Novoheart has developed. Uncovering the potential toxic effects of cardioactive agents early on is very important for our development program of these therapeutic agents," said Sumocor CEO Roger Hajjar.

About Novoheart:

Novoheart is a global stem cell biotechnology company pioneering an array of next-generation human heart tissue prototypes. It is the first company in the world to have engineered miniature living human heart pumps that can revolutionize drug discovery, helping to save time and money for developing new therapeutics.