Cardior Welcomes Dr. Orly Vardeny as Permanent Guest to the Board

Cardior Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biotech company developing non-coding RNA (ncRNA)-based therapeutics for patients with cardiac diseases, today announced that Orly Vardeny, PharmD, MS, joins its Board of Directors as a permanent guest. Dr. Vardeny is an Associate professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School, with a research focus on novel therapies for the treatment of heart failure and a track record of conducting clinical trials for cardiovascular diseases. Dr. Vardeny's insights will be invaluable as Cardior advances its pipeline of RNA-based therapeutics headed by lead candidate CDR132L, which is currently under evaluation in the HF-REVERT Phase 2 clinical trial in heart failure patients post-myocardial infarction.

"As we further develop our broad pipeline of potentially revolutionary RNA therapeutics for heart diseases, we are looking forward to working with Orly and benefitting from her extensive experience in bringing new treatment options to heart failure patients," said Claudia Ulbrich, MD, CEO and Co-Founder of Cardior. "Her deep understanding of all stages of clinical development and the challenges of adopting new therapies into the current treatment landscape will be of significant importance to Cardior."

"The addition of Orly to the Board of Directors reflects Cardior's commitment to deliver a breakthrough for the current standard of care for heart diseases. The company has made significant progress by advancing CDR132L into Phase 2 clinical development and will profit from Orly's guidance as it further advances its lead candidate and broader pipeline," added Russell Greig, PhD, Chairman of Cardior's Board.

"RNA-based therapies stand apart in mechanism from traditional guideline directed medical therapy for heart failure, and I am a great supporter of identifying and evaluating novel treatment options in this area," added Dr. Vardeny. "Targeting non-coding RNAs as the master-regulators of indication-specific pathways to achieve disease-modifying effects is a very promising approach and I am looking forward to supporting the continued advancement of Cardior's exciting pipeline."

Orly Vardeny, PharmD, MS, is an Associate professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota. Her research interests include maximizing the benefit of pharmacologic therapy in patients with heart failure and optimizing vaccination strategies in patients with cardiac disorders. She has led several multi-center, randomized clinical trials evaluating influenza vaccines in patients with high-risk cardiovascular disease. In addition, she serves as the US national lead investigator and a steering committee member for numerous clinical trials investigating novel therapies in patients with heart failure. Her clinical practice is in the outpatient management of patients with chronic heart failure. She is an Associate Editor for Circulation: Heart Failure and was a writing group member for the 2022 American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology/Heart Failure Society of America Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure.

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About Cardior

Cardior Pharmaceuticals is a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the discovery and development of RNA-based therapeutics designed to prevent, repair and reverse diseases of the heart. Cardior's therapeutic approach uses distinctive non-coding RNAs as an innovative platform for addressing the root causes of cardiac dysfunctions. The company aspires to bring transformative therapeutics and diagnostics to patients and thereby make a lasting impact on the treatment of cardiac diseases worldwide.