Medera’s Novoheart expands cardiac research with CTScreen™ at Utrecht Medical Center

Medera Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on targeting difficult-to-treat or currently incurable diseases with significant unmet needs, and Novoheart, its wholly owned pre-clinical subsidiary pioneering human-based cardiac tissue engineering for disease modelling and drug screening, are pleased to announce the installation of their state-of-the-art CTScreen™ platform at the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht).

This milestone equips the Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht with a leading-edge system to model human cardiac diseases, develop therapies, and transform preclinical cardiac research. UMC Utrecht researchers will leverage CTScreen™ to study disease-specific mechanisms, screen therapeutic candidates, and optimize drug safety using Novoheart’s human-based assays.  

The CTScreen™ system supports Novoheart’s renowned "mini-Heart™" platform, enabling automated screening of bioengineered human cardiac tissues that accurately mimic heart function. Using a standard 96-well format, the system can evaluate up to 96 tissue samples at a time, allowing early detection of therapeutic effects and significantly accelerating the development process. This installation builds upon Novoheart’s successful collaborations with global leaders like AstraZeneca and Curi Bio, while advancing the goals of the FDA Modernization Act 2.0 through human-based alternatives to traditional methods.

"This technology enables unparalleled precision in understanding cardiac conditions," said Kevin Costa, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of Novoheart. "With UMC Utrecht’s expertise in regenerative medicine, we anticipate breakthroughs that will transform cardiovascular research."

“Our team is excited to bring the CTScreen™ system into our facility,” said Joost Sluijter, Ph.D., Director of the Heart and Lung Division within the Regenerative Medicine Center Utrecht. “This adds much-needed capabilities for measuring human cardiac tissue contractility, advancing our efforts in studying disease mechanisms and accelerating translation to clinical trials for patients with familial cardiomyopathies and other heart diseases that lack effective treatments.”

“The installation at UMC Utrecht represents not only an expansion of Novoheart’s reach, but also an exciting step in strengthening our partnership with this world-renowned institution,” concluded Ronald Li, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Medera. “Together, we are exploring innovative possibilities in cardiac regeneration technologies that have the potential to redefine what’s possible in heart disease treatment. While today’s announcement marks a key milestone, we look forward to sharing more exciting developments soon as our collaboration deepens.”