Kardigan, Inc. (Nasdaq: KARD), a clinical-stage precision cardiovascular company whose three in-licensed drug candidates target indications with no approved treatments, priced an upsized IPO at USD 400 million in gross proceeds, above its previously targeted USD 373 million. The increase signals strong institutional demand for a pipeline built around the founders of MyoKardia, the company behind the first approved cardiac myosin inhibitor. The raise, confirmed above the original filing terms, ranks among the largest cardiovascular biotech public offerings in recent years.
The offering comprised 25 million shares at USD 16.00 per share, with underwriters granted a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3.75 million shares, which would increase gross proceeds to as much as USD 460 million if exercised in full. Kardigan's shares were expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on June 18, 2026, with the offering expected to close on June 22, 2026.
South San Francisco and Princeton, New Jersey-based Kardigan was incorporated in August 2023 and renamed from EnCarda, Inc. in December 2024. The company is led by co-founders Tassos Gianakakos, former chief executive of MyoKardia, Inc., and Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., who held senior roles at MyoKardia, Sanofi, Bristol Myers Squibb, and GlaxoSmithKline. MyoKardia developed mavacamten (Camzyos), a cardiac myosin inhibitor approved for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and subsequently acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb.
Kardigan's three pipeline assets were each in-licensed from established partners. The lead asset, danicamtiv, is an oral cardiac myosin activator — mechanistically the opposite of mavacamten — licensed from Bristol Myers Squibb and originally discovered at MyoKardia. It is being evaluated in the KINSHIP-DCM Phase IIb/III adaptive trial in patients with genetic dilated cardiomyopathy caused by pathogenic variants in MYH7 and TTN genes. The second asset, ataciguat, is an oral soluble guanylate cyclase activator licensed from Sanofi and Mayo Clinic, in a Phase IIb trial for moderate calcific aortic valve stenosis. The third, tonlamarsen, is a monthly subcutaneous antisense oligonucleotide targeting hepatic angiotensinogen, licensed from Ionis Pharmaceuticals, in Phase II development for acute severe hypertension following hospitalization.