HONG KONG, June 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novoheart (“Novoheart” or the “Company”) (TSXV:NVH) (FWB:3NH), a global stem cell biotechnology company, is pleased to announce that its wholly owned subsidiary, Novoheart Limited, has been awarded a non-dilutional government grant of C$400,000 from the Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) of Hong Kong. The grant has been awarded to Novoheart to further enhance the drug screening capabilities of its proprietary human ventricular cardiac tissue strip, as part of its unique MyHeart TM Platform of bioengineered human heart tissues.
Novoheart’s human ventricular cardiac tissue strip is a powerful tool for assessing human heart contractility outside of the body. The ITC award will support the development of the next generation of cardiac tissue strip assays, with enhanced efficiency, accuracy and sensitivity in screening drugs for toxic or beneficial effects on the heart’s pumping strength, thereby helping drug developers to select candidates most likely to succeed in clinical trials.
Including this latest grant, Novoheart has received close to C$2.2 million R&D funding from the ITC. “Our team is delighted by the continuing support that ITC has provided,” says Novoheart CSO, Dr. Kevin Costa. “The upgrades to our platform will further strengthen our technical capability to facilitate successful drug development and heighten our commercial competitiveness.”
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. Also known as ' human heart-in-a-jar' , Novoheart’s bio-artificial human heart constructs are created using state-of-the-art and proprietary stem cell and bioengineering approaches and are utilized by drug developers for accurate preclinical testing as to the effectiveness and safety of new drugs, maximizing the successes in drug discovery whilst minimizing costs and harm caused to patients.
For further information, please contact: Ronald Li, CEO info@novoheart.com
Babak Pedram, Investor Relations Virtus Advisory Group Tel: 416-995-8651 bpedram@virtusadvisory.com
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact: Josh Stanbury, Media Relations Tel. 416-628-7441 media@novoheart.com
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation; statements about the Company’s future plans, its goals and expectations, and the potential applications of its MyHeart TM platform are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the risks identified in the management discussion and analysis section of Novoheart Holdings Inc.’s interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulators. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made and the respective companies undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
