This German Biotech Just Raised Millions to Redefine Heart Disease Treatment

Jan de Vries · 2026-08-28

Let's talk about what's happening in Heidelberg. It's not just about the castle and the old university anymore. A new biotech startup, Revier Therapeutics, has officially launched, and it's coming out of the gate with a serious mission: tackling some of the toughest cardiometabolic diseases we face. The company just closed a significant Seed financing round, securing about $6.5 million. That's a major vote of confidence for a fresh face in the competitive world of life sciences. The round was spearheaded by the KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II, with key participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), VORNvc, and a group of private investors coordinated through Revier Invest Heidelberg. ### The Unmet Need in Cardiovascular Care You'd think with all our medical advances, we'd have heart disease figured out. But that's not the full story. Prof. Eva van Rooij, PhD, the company's co-founder and CEO, puts it plainly. She says that despite real progress, millions of patients with specific conditions like HFpEF (heart failure with preserved ejection fraction) and ASCVD (atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease) are still stuck with limited, targeted options. The vision at Revier isn't just to create another drug. It's about digging deeper. They believe the next generation of treatments has to go after the underlying biology that drives the disease. It's about long-term solutions, not just managing symptoms. Their goal is to translate a specific piece of science—class IIa HDAC inhibition—into a real pipeline of novel therapies that can make a lasting difference for patients and the whole healthcare system. ### A More Precise Scientific Approach So, what's the big idea? HDACs are enzymes involved in many severe diseases. Earlier attempts to target them were a bit like using a sledgehammer—they hit too many things and caused problematic side effects. Revier's approach is more like a scalpel. - They've developed the first therapeutic strategy to *selectively* target just the class IIa HDACs for cardiometabolic diseases. - Their small-molecule drugs are designed to be taken orally. - The key is inhibiting the bad, disease-causing activity while carefully preserving the healthy, essential functions these enzymes perform. Prof. Johannes Backs, MD, the scientific founder, explains this precision is what sets them apart. It's designed to be effective *and* maintain a much better safety profile from the start. ### What the Investors See This isn't just scientific optimism. The investors are betting on a tangible opportunity. Michael Hamacher, PhD, from KHAN, highlighted Revier's unique strategy. He believes it can unlock the true therapeutic potential of HDAC biology by avoiding the pitfalls of earlier, less selective approaches. Combine that with what he calls an "exceptional leadership team and deep scientific expertise," and you have a company that could genuinely reshape the standard of care for these chronic disorders. ### The Road Ahead With the new capital in hand, the plan is clear. Revier will push forward its preclinical pipeline, focusing its lead program on HFpEF and a second program on ASCVD. The funding will also help build out the team's operational, scientific, and clinical capabilities to move from the lab toward the clinic. For professionals watching the European biotech scene, Revier Therapeutics is a name to remember—a German startup aiming not just to join the field, but to change how we treat heart disease at its core.