Neocor Therapeutics, a young biotech company spun out of academic research in Marseilles, is one of the winners of the i-Lab 2025 national competition, organized as part of France 2030. This distinction, accompanied by a €370,000 grant, will enable the company to accelerate the clinical development of its breakthrough innovation, a curative gene therapy capable of regenerating the heart after severe damage caused by myocardial infarction or dilated cardiomyopathy, a hereditary disease that progressively weakens and dilates the heart muscle.
A major unmet medical need
Currently available treatments for heart failure neither correct the loss of heart muscle cells nor the development of scar tissue that stiffens the heart, but are limited to slowing the progression of the disease without offering a curative solution. Faced with this major unmet medical need, over 33,000 new patients suffer from dilated cardiomyopathy every year in Europe and the United States, and are waiting for a therapeutic innovation capable of changing their vital prognosis.
A breakthrough innovation based on cardiac regeneration
The therapy developed by Neocor Therapeutics relies on a unique mechanism of action, based on a protein identified and patented by the founding team. Administered via a viral vector, this gene-drug has three complementary modes of action. It prevents the death of cardiac cells after heart damage, activates their regeneration by reactivating their capacity to multiply, and prevents the formation of scar tissue which limits the proper functioning of the heart muscle. A single intravenous injection should thus enable long-term restoration of cardiac function, marking a break with current approaches which merely slow the progression of the disease.
Acceleration towards the clinic
Benefiting from Eurobiomed's GO4BIO acceleration program, the company aims to start large-scale production to pharmaceutical standards as early as 2026, followed by the regulatory studies required to launch a first phase I/II clinical trial in 2027. " This recognition by France 2030 through the i-Lab competition validates the disruptive dimension of our therapeutic approach ," says Matthieu Metz, CEO and co-founder of Neocor Therapeutics. " This grant will enable us to accelerate our preclinical and regulatory development, so that we can offer patients a genuine curative solution more quickly, moving from a disease-slowing approach to true heart regeneration."
Find out more about all the Eurobiomed winners at i-Lab 2025 here.
