A new biotech company forged through an Australian and Danish partnership will accelerate treatments for children and adults with heart disease. Harnessing cellular therapies, the company aims to conduct human clinical trials within three to five years.

Ibnova Therapeutics, launched today, has emerged from world-first, collaborative research by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) in Melbourne and QIMR Berghofer in Brisbane. Within MCRI, this work is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), which is headquartered in Copenhagen, and has research nodes in the University of Copenhagen, Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and MCRI. 

Based in Denmark, Ibnova Therapeutics is backed by the BioInnovation Institute (BII) Venture Lab program and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator, initiatives designed to allow researchers to transform their scientific breakthroughs into viable therapies.

How will Ibnova Therapeutics impact heart disease treatments?

Ibnova Therapeutics will advance the development and commercialisation of stem cell-based treatments for heart failure pioneered by MCRI Professor Enzo Porrello and QIMR Berghofer Professor James Hudson.

The research team, including cardiac surgeons and cardiologists from Melbourne’s The Royal Children’s Hospital and The Alfred Hospital, has shown that lab-grown human heart muscle can restore heart function after a heart attack. The team has also proved this approach is safe and effective in animal models.

Image: An animal model of heart failure treated with lab-grown human heart muscle. Credit: Hayley Pointer and Rebecca Sutton, MCRI Research Assistants, Heart Regeneration and Disease Groups

The foundational intellectual property underpinning Ibnova Therapeutics was made possible through significant support from reNEW, which enabled MCRI researchers to advance these early‑stage discoveries. This stem cell research has also received support over a decade from the Australian Research Council, the Medical Research Future Fund and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

How common is heart failure?

Heart failure, a life‑threatening condition where the heart struggles to pump enough blood around the body, affects more than 60 million people globally. While a heart transplant is the only viable treatment for end‑stage heart failure, the severe shortage of donor organs presents a significant and ongoing challenge.

Ibnova Therapeutics Executive Director, Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder Andrew Laskary said the company’s mission was to bring cellular therapies to heart failure patients as quickly and safely as possible.

“With Ibnova, we can now bridge the hardest gap in medicine by turning breakthrough biology into a clinical-ready therapy,” he said. “By combining Australia’s discovery engine with Denmark’s translational ecosystem, we’re building a focused path to first-in-human trials by aligning manufacturing readiness, regulatory strategy and clinical partnerships. We’re grateful for the opportunity to launch from the BioInnovation Institute in partnership with the Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator. This work reflects the interdisciplinary effort required to translate foundational research into therapies that are ready for patients.”

The BII Venture Lab will provide early-stage funding, business development and a base as the company scales up. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator will provide the expertise to manufacture the engineered heart tissue to meet therapeutic requirements.

A new frontier for transformative technologies and industry partnerships

Professor Porrello, also an Ibnova Therapeutics Co-Founder, said the company highlighted the need for early and sustained investment in transformative technologies and the important role of industry partnerships to enable advanced manufacturing and clinical trials.

“We are incredibly excited to announce the launch of Ibnova Therapeutics and move our stem cell technology towards clinical trials,” he said. “This would not have been possible without the support of reNEW and our Novo Nordisk Foundation ecosystem partners in Denmark including the Cellerator and the BioInnovation Institute.”

Image: Professor Enzo Porrello

Professor Hudson, also an Ibnova Therapeutics Co-Founder, said “The technology was developed on the backing of over a decade of research into creating multicellular bioengineered tissues. The mechanistic science underpinning this technology is pivotal to its substantial improvement in heart function.”

MCRI Chief Scientist and reNEW CEO Professor Melissa Little said, “The mission of reNEW is to move the very best stem cell science through to the development of new therapies. The formation of Ibnova Therapeutics from the research in the Australian node is precisely what we aim to achieve.”

Image: Professor Melissa Little

Available for interview

Professor Enzo Porrello, MCRI Director of Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW Melbourne Node Director and Ibnova Co-Founder

Professor Melissa Little, MCRI Chief Scientist and reNEW CEO

Andrew Laskary, Ibnova Therapeutics Executive Director, CSO and Co-Founder

Professor James Hudson, QIMR Berghofer, Cardiac Bioengineering Senior Group Leader and Ibnova Therapeutics Co-Founder

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About Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI)

Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) is the largest child health research institute in Australia committed to making discoveries and developing treatments to improve child and adolescent health in Australia and around the world. They are pioneering new treatments, trialling better vaccines and improving ways of diagnosing and helping sick babies, children and adolescents. It is one of the only research institutes in Australia to offer genetic testing to find answers for families of children with previously undiagnosed conditions.

About QIMR Berghofer

QIMR Berghofer is a world-leading, translational medical research institute based in Brisbane, Australia. Established in 1945, the Institute is home to almost 1,000 scientists, clinician-scientists, support staff, and students working across four key research programs of Cancer Research, Infection and Inflammation, Population Health, and Brain and Mental Health. Its state-of-the-art facilities include Q-Gen Cell Therapeutics, which manufactures cell therapies. QIMR Berghofer seeks to deliver better health and wellbeing through impactful medical research that responds to the foremost health challenges of our time.

About reNEW

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine, reNEW, is a unique global collaboration focusing on stem cell research involving three leading research institutions: the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Australia. reNEW strives to advance a new generation of effective and safe stem cell-based therapies, built on this global collaborative network of excellence in targeted biomedical research. Its funding is provided by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, an international philanthropic foundation based in Denmark. The 300 million euro grant runs over a 10-year period from 2022.

About BioInnovation Institute

At BioInnovation Institute (BII), we accelerate world-class innovation to benefit people and society. Through our programs, Venture Lab, Bio Studio and BII Quantum Lab, we support life science and deep tech start-ups with knowledge, network, infrastructure and funding of up to 3M EUR per project and 1.8 M EUR per start-up. With our expertise, network, funding, and infrastructure, we empower early-stage startups and translational research projects to succeed and believe in the transformative power of innovation.

About Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator

Cellerator is dedicated to accelerating the development of cell therapies from concept to clinic. Built to address the persistent gap between scientific innovation and patient access, Cellerator enables the translation of promising research into real-world treatments.  Cellerator’s state of the art facility offers end-to-end support across diverse cell therapy platforms, including process development, analytical development, GMP manufacturing, regulatory documentation, and clinical trial enablement. Cellerators infrastructure and expertise empower biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and academic institutions to advance curative therapies to clinics efficiently and compliantly. Cellerator is wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and as a philanthropic initiative, Cellerator fosters collaboration across sectors to drive progress in regenerative medicine. The mission is to make transformative therapies accessible to all patients, treating diseases at their root.

About Ibnova Therapeutics

Ibnova Therapeutics is developing next‑generation vascularized engineered heart tissue patches to transform the trajectory of heart disease for patients who continue to decline despite today’s best drugs and devices. Ibnova Therapeutics is supported through a collaboration between the BioInnovation Institute and the Novo Nordisk Foundation Cellerator, combining venture creation, industrialization expertise and regenerative medicine research to accelerate translation of novel therapies for heart disease.

Funding

The research is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Stem Cell Medicine (reNEW), supported by Novo Nordisk Foundation grant number NNF21CC0073729.