Genome Biologics says its miniature human hearts give drug makers better data on heart safety than "conventional 2D assays and animal models". Genome Biologics, founded in 2017 in Frankfurt and now based in Kronberg im Taunus, grows TrueCardium, human heart organoids made from stem cells that contain heart muscle, blood vessel, fibroblast and nerve cells, to test drugs for heart toxicity and find ones that protect the heart.
The EIC selected its GenBio project in the October 2021 round. On its press page the company says the award secured €9.8 million "to accelerate clinical programs". But no GenBio project appears in the EU's CORDIS database, and German register data compiled by North Data list EU grants from 2017 and 2018, not 2021. Today Genome Biologics sells screening services on its organoids to pharmaceutical companies.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Genome Biologics GmbH (formerly UG), HRB 10217, Amtsgericht Königstein
- Registered
- February 2017; GmbH since March 2023
- Seat
- Kronberg im Taunus
- Platform
- TrueCardium human cardiac organoids from iPSCs
- Services
- Cardiotoxicity and QT screening, disease models, multi-omics
- Partner
- AstraZeneca (research collaboration with licence option)
- EIC award
- GenBio, blended finance; no project on CORDIS
- Earlier EU grants
- SME Instrument Phase 1 (2017) and Phase 2 (2018)
Where Genome Biologics Stands Today
The company's website presents TrueCardium as a "New Approach Methodology" platform and offers "CRO-style study packages": cardiotoxicity and QT screening, disease models for heart failure, fibrosis and inflammation, and multi-omics analysis. It says TrueCardium data "has been reviewed in regulatory contexts" by Germany's BfArM and the US FDA. The register shows the company active, converted from a UG to a GmbH in March 2023 with a new managing director in June 2023, and a German research subsidy in September 2023.
The Technology: A Heart in a Dish
TrueCardium organoids are three-dimensional clusters grown from induced pluripotent stem cells. The company describes them as "multicellular, vascularised, innervated and functionally mature", combining heart muscle cells, blood vessel lining cells and fibroblasts. It lists an AstraZeneca research collaboration with an exclusive licence option on drivers of heart regeneration, and membership of Johnson & Johnson's JLABS incubator.
"The most physiologically advanced multicellular heart organoid platform available for translational drug development."
Genome Biologics websiteWhat the EIC Project Promised, and What the Record Shows
GenBio promised "a disruptive drug discovery and preclinical platform to accelerate the development of novel cardioprotective therapeutics". The company's press page presents the EIC award as securing €9.8 million "to accelerate clinical programs for cardiotoxicity and heart damage prevention". We searched the CORDIS Horizon Europe data and found no project with Genome Biologics as coordinator, and the register-linked records show no 2021 EU grant. Whether a grant agreement was signed, or equity invested, is not public. We found no trial sponsored by the company on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- A signed EIC projectNot shownNot on CORDIS.
- A discovery platformDeliveredTrueCardium offered as a service.
- Own cardioprotective drugsNot shownNo clinical programme public.
- A pharma partnershipDeliveredAstraZeneca collaboration.
What Has Happened Since the Award
The Money
Genome Biologics received €50,000 from the EU's SME Instrument Phase 1 in 2017 and €2.43 million from Phase 2 in 2018, according to the register-linked records. It has announced no venture round and we found no EIC Fund investment. Its accounts were not accessible for this article.
What cannot be checked
What the €9.8 million the company cites consisted of, whether any of it was paid, how much revenue its screening services earn and what became of its own drug programmes are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
Genome Biologics markets TrueCardium as a human-relevant alternative to animal models in heart safety testing. But the company's own account of its EIC funding cannot be matched to any public EU record, which is a transparency gap either the company or the EU should close.
What the project promised
A drug discovery platform to speed up new medicines that protect the heart.
What the record shows
A heart organoid screening service and an AstraZeneca collaboration; no EIC project on record and no clinical drug.
The Verdict
A service business and an unexplained award
Genome Biologics is operating, with a platform pharma companies can buy. But its own therapeutics have not appeared in the clinic, and the €9.8 million EIC award it cites leaves no trace in the EU's project records.
Genome Biologics has not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on company statements, EU data and German register information, linked throughout.
