Austrian biotech HeartBeat.bio and German AI company biotx.ai announced a strategic partnership on July 7, 2025, to accelerate heart failure drug discovery by combining artificial intelligence-driven genetics with human cardiac organoid models. The collaboration aims to identify and validate novel therapeutic targets for a condition that affects more than 30 million people in major pharmaceutical markets and remains a leading cause of death and hospitalization.
AI-Powered Target Discovery Meets Human Organoid Validation
Under the licensing and technology access agreement, biotx.ai will apply its large-scale Mendelian randomization platform to discover previously unrecognized genetic targets causally linked to heart failure. The German company's platform curates a comprehensive catalog based on 9,539 genome-wide association study (GWAS) datasets including more than 22 million cases across over 3,000 diseases, testing all 23,280 genes and more than 1 million omics markers in over 60 tissues for each disease.
HeartBeat.bio will exclusively validate these AI-identified targets using its proprietary Cardioid Drug Discovery Platform—a human, chamber-like cardiac organoid system that recapitulates key aspects of heart biology and disease. The platform integrates iPSC-derived cardiac organoids with advanced automation and AI-driven analytics to enable scalable, human-centric drug discovery.
Addressing Unmet Medical Need in Heart Failure
Despite recent therapeutic advances, many heart failure patients lack effective treatment options targeting underlying disease mechanisms. The partnership's approach of identifying genetically validated targets and testing them in human-relevant systems has the potential to unlock a new generation of precision medicines for heart failure.
"Our mission is to transform the way heart failure is treated by combining our human-based drug discovery platform with cutting-edge AI technologies," said Michael Krebs, CEO of HeartBeat.bio. "This collaboration with biotx.ai allows us to explore the full potential of novel, genetically guided targets for therapeutic innovation."
Strategic Focus Areas and Commercial Terms
The companies will initially focus on cardiomyopathies, myocardial fibrosis, and its effects on cardiac remodeling—a chronic disease phenotype prevalent in most heart failure patients. HeartBeat.bio will hold exclusive rights to initiate internal drug discovery programs or enter third-party co-development partnerships based on the validated targets, with all resulting intellectual property owned by HeartBeat.bio. biotx.ai is eligible to receive milestone payments and royalties on future products developed from these targets.
Technology Platform Advantages
HeartBeat.bio's approach replaces traditional animal models with physiologically relevant and scalable human model systems, which the company states enhances translational predictability, shortens development timelines, and reduces clinical failure rates. The Vienna-based company, founded in 2021, has received private investments from aws Gründungsfonds II, i&i BiotechFund, Invest AG, red-stars.com data AG, and Tensor Ventures Fund, as well as grants from Austrian agencies.
biotx.ai, founded in 2017 and located at the Potsdam Science Park, leverages advanced machine learning to identify clusters and pinpoint essential causal relationships of drug targets. "biotx.ai is committed to turning complex biological data into actionable drug targets," said Marco Schmidt, CEO of biotx.ai. "Partnering with HeartBeat.bio enables us to bridge the gap from causal genes to functional validation in a highly relevant human model. Together, we aim to accelerate the development of disease-modifying therapies for heart failure."
