Kardigan, a cardiovascular drugmaker backed by prominent life sciences investors, on Tuesday disclosed plans to go public.
Founded in 2023, the biotechnology startup is trying to develop therapies that target the root causes of diseases with no approved treatments. The mission is fitting, as Kardigan was created by former executives of MyoKardia, a fellow California-based biotech that sold to Bristol Myers Squibb for just north of $13 billion. MyoKardia discovered a first-of-its-kind heart medication, Camzyos, which has since become a blockbuster product.
According to newly filed federal documents, Kardigan had raised almost $570 million as of March 31. The sum grew significantly last fall, with the close of a $254 million Series B funding round. The company’s investors include Perceptive Advisors, ARCH Venture Partners, Sequoia Heritage, Fidelity Management & Research Company and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management.
Kardigan’s main assets are three in-licensed drugs that have progressed to the middle or late stages of human testing.
The first, called danicamtiv, came from Bristol Myers. It’s meant to have a similar-but-opposite effect as Camzyos, strengthening the heart muscle by activating a protein, “cardiac myosin,” that’s essential for contractions. Kardigan is evaluating danicamtiv in a Phase 2b/3 study focused on genetically driven “dilated cardiomyopathy,” a disease that weakens the heart and keeps it from pumping adequate amounts of oxygenated blood through the body.
