Treating the untreatable heart. A gene therapy built not to swap a broken gene - but to relieve the mechanical force tearing heart cells apart.
Most gene therapies begin with one question: which gene is broken, and how do we replace it? Nuevocor, a clinical-stage biotechnology company that spun out of Singapore's A*STAR research agency in 2021, starts somewhere else. It asks what is physically happening inside a dying heart cell - and for the disease it targets first, the answer is not a missing protein. It is force.
The company's focus is genetic cardiomyopathy: inherited disease of the heart muscle that can strike young, weaken the heart over years, trigger dangerous arrhythmias, and often end in a transplant. Its founding thesis is "mechanobiology" - the idea that many of these conditions are driven by aberrant mechanical stress on the cell, not only by a faulty gene sequence. Fix the mechanics, the reasoning goes, and the cell can recover.
That reframe runs through everything Nuevocor does. Its lead program, NVC-001, is an AAV-based gene therapy for LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy (LMNA DCM) - an aggressive rare disease with no targeted treatment. Rather than editing the LMNA mutation, NVC-001 is designed to reduce the mechanical forces bearing down on the cell nucleus and restore the integrity of the nuclear envelope, a recognized hallmark of the disease.
"NVC-001 is the first disease-modifying therapy for LMNA DCM designed to address the underlying mechanobiological root cause."
Only about five of the 30-plus mutations that cause cardiomyopathy were being seriously pursued by industry. Nuevocor built its platform to reach the rest.
In LMNA DCM, a mutation weakens the nuclear envelope - the membrane protecting a cell's DNA. Under the constant mechanical strain of a beating heart, that weakened envelope fails. NVC-001 leaves the mutation in place and instead reduces the force reaching the nucleus.
LMNA gene mutation weakens the nuclear envelope inside heart-muscle cells.
Each heartbeat transmits force to the fragile nucleus, disrupting its envelope.
A one-time IV AAV therapy delivers a modifier that reduces force on the nucleus.
Nuclear envelope integrity is protected, aiming to slow or modify disease.
Mechanism described in simplified terms from public company and press materials. Clinical benefit is unproven and under investigation.
A first-in-class, AAV-based gene therapy for LMNA-related dilated cardiomyopathy, administered as a single intravenous infusion. Designed to restore nuclear envelope integrity by reducing mechanical stress on the nucleus. FDA cleared its IND in June 2025, enabling a planned Phase 1/2 first-in-human trial across US and European sites.
Protein Organ Specific Interactome Analysis - Nuevocor's proprietary platform that maps the functional root causes of genetic cardiomyopathies and pinpoints pathway-specific targets across the 30+ known disease-causing mutations. It is the source of NVC-001 and the company's future pipeline, and moves beyond conventional gene replacement.
The distinction matters commercially as much as scientifically. A single successful drug is a milestone; a platform that can generate the next candidate - and the one after that - is a business. Nuevocor treats NVC-001 as proof of a method, and PrOSIA as the engine meant to repeat it.
The planned Phase 1/2 study is a first-in-human, 52-week, open-label, multicenter, ascending-dose trial evaluating the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of NVC-001 in adults with LMNA DCM. The therapy is given once, intravenously, in escalating dose cohorts, alongside a concurrent natural history study. Nuevocor has targeted early 2026 to begin, with sites in the US and Europe.
The unmet need is stark. LMNA DCM is estimated to affect more than 100,000 patients across the US and Europe, tends to strike younger patients, and today is managed only with symptom control, devices, or transplantation. When a disease is defined by the word "untreatable," being first is the entire proposition.
A treatment designed to work once - not a lifelong regimen.
| Round | Amount | Date | Lead / Notable Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | US$24M | 2021 | EDBI · ClavystBio · Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund · SEEDS Capital |
| Series B | US$45M | May 2025 | Kurma Partners & Angelini Ventures (co-leads) · EDBI · ClavystBio · Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund · Highlight Capital · SEEDS Capital |
The cap table reads as a vote of conviction across three continents - a French venture firm, an Italian pharma-linked fund, a German pharma's venture arm, and Singapore's state-backed investors all in one Series B. Deep-tech medicine of this kind is rarely funded on optimism alone; it is funded on a mechanism that reviewers find plausible enough to test in people.
Serial biotech founder who previously co-founded NASDAQ-listed Atreca and served as Chief Innovation Officer at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore before starting Nuevocor.
A*STAR researcher whose decades of work on the nuclear envelope and lamins underpins the science behind NVC-001.
A*STAR scientist in nuclear-envelope biology and mechanobiology, a co-originator of the company's core research.
Appointed CEO in January 2026 to steer Nuevocor into clinical development, with Dr. Monica Shah, MD, FACC joining as Chief Medical Officer.
Leadership as reported on public company materials; roles evolve as the company moves toward the clinic.
Founded in Singapore to develop mechanobiology-centered genetic medicines, built on nuclear-envelope research from A*STAR scientists.
Early financing led by EDBI, ClavystBio and Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund to advance the pipeline.
Co-led by Kurma Partners and Angelini Ventures to fund clinical development of NVC-001.
In June 2025 the FDA cleared the IND for NVC-001, opening the door to a Phase 1/2 trial in LMNA DCM.
Appointed CEO Al Gianchetti and CMO Dr. Monica Shah as the first-in-human trial approached across the US and Europe.
Compiled from public sources including company materials, press releases, and industry coverage. Figures are approximate where noted. Video link opens a search for available interviews and demos.