Scinopharm Taiwan Ltd., of Taiwan, and Cvie Therapeutics Ltd., of Taiwan, said they initiated a discovery and development collaboration to identify a new generation compound to Istaroxime, Cvie’s acute heart failure treatment currently in late phase IIb trials in Italy and China. The primary goal will be to develop a compound possessing oral bioavailability while maintaining Istaroxime’s dual inotropic (myocyte contraction) and lusotropic (myocyte relaxation) function.