Kardigan, Inc. (Nasdaq: KARD) priced its initial public offering at $16.00 per share on Wednesday, June 17, with shares beginning to trade this morning on Nasdaq. The company sold 25 million primary shares, raising gross proceeds of approximately $400 million (net proceeds to the company approximately $373 million after underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses), at a market capitalization of roughly $1.4 billion at the offering price. Underwriters hold a 30-day overallotment option on an additional 3.75 million shares.

The IPO is the culmination of a capital formation arc that began with a $300 million Series A in January 2025 and continued with a $254 million Series B in October 2025. Management has stated that the combined proceeds support operations and KINSHIP-DCM enrollment into 2028, well past expected Phase 2b topline data.

The drug: danicamtiv and genetic dilated cardiomyopathy

Kardigan’s single clinical-stage program is danicamtiv, an oral, once-daily cardiac myosin activator originally discovered at MyoKardia (as MYK-491). MyoKardia was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in November 2020 for $13.1 billion; BMS subsequently divested the danicamtiv program, and Kardigan entered into an arm’s-length license agreement with BMS on November 4, 2024 to acquire exclusive worldwide rights.

Danicamtiv is mechanistically the complement of Camzyos (mavacamten, approved by FDA April 28, 2022 for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy): where mavacamten inhibits overactive cardiac myosin, danicamtiv activates it — recruiting myosin molecules from the autoinhibited “super-relaxed” OFF state into the actin-accessible, force-generating ON state. The target indication, genetic and familial dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), is a disease of contractile insufficiency, not overcontraction. DCM causes left ventricular dilation and systolic dysfunction; in its genetic form, the most common causative genes are TTN (titin, 12–25% of cases) and MYH7 (beta-myosin heavy chain, ~5%).

No drug is currently FDA-approved specifically for genetic or familial DCM.

Phase 2a data: what the JACC paper showed

Kardigan presented pivotal Phase 2a data at the Heart Failure Society of America (HFSA) Annual Scientific Meeting in September 2025; the full paper was published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology in December 2025 (PMID 41217321).

The study (NCT04572893), a Phase 2a, open-label, exploratory trial sponsored originally by BMS, enrolled 41 patients with genetic DCM in three pre-specified cohorts: MYH7 (n=12), TTN (n=14), and Other Causes (n=15). After two consecutive treatment periods at danicamtiv 25 mg twice daily:

  • MYH7 cohort: absolute LVEF change +8.8 percentage points (95% CI, 5.03–12.64; p = 0.001); left atrial function index (LAFI) change +11.1 (p = 0.006)
  • TTN cohort: absolute LVEF change +5.9 percentage points (95% CI, 2.59–9.28; p = 0.005)
  • Other causes cohort: LVEF change +4.4 percentage points (95% CI, −0.90 to 9.73; p = NS)

All adverse events were mild or moderate; no drug-related serious adverse events, no deaths.

The differential response between MYH7 and TTN is mechanistically coherent: MYH7 variants directly impair the myosin motor, so activating residual myosin restores function most directly; TTN variants reduce the quantity of functional myosin available, so the activating benefit is more attenuated. Open-label extension data in 19 patients were presented at ACC 2026 and published in JACC April 2026.

KINSHIP-DCM: the pivotal trial

KINSHIP-DCM (NCT07210723) is a Phase 2b/3, adaptive, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolling patients with symptomatic genetic or familial DCM regardless of specific gene — covering MYH7, TTN, and other identified DCM-associated variants. The trial opened on February 13, 2026 and is currently recruiting across 43 sites in 10 countries (including Brigham and Women’s, Mayo Clinic, UCSF, and Hammersmith Hospital). Target enrollment is 332 patients; the Phase 2b interim analysis (primary endpoint: change in left atrial function index at 26 weeks) is expected in H1 2027.

Kardigan’s leadership team includes Tassos Gianakakos (CEO; co-founder; previously CEO of MyoKardia, a role he assumed in October 2013), Jay Edelberg, MD, PhD (CMO), and Bob McDowell, PhD (CSO). Gianakakos oversaw the Phase 2a data generation and the BMS license negotiation before leading the Kardigan founding.

The company reported a net loss of $56.1 million in Q1 2026 and has no product revenue.