The latest from small and Emerging Pharma companies featuring Enliven, Simulations Plus and Kardigan. 

For news on the large and mid-sized bio/pharmaceutical companies, see Global Briefs. 

* Enliven Raises $460 M To Support Small-Molecule Leukemia Drug  
* PE firm Altaris To Acquire AI Drug-Development Company Simulations Plus for $375 M 
* Kardigan Announces Upsized $400-M IPO To Support Cardio Drug Pipeline

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Enliven Raises $460 M To Support Small-Molecule Leukemia Drug  
Enliven Therapeutics, a Burlingame, California-based clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small-molecule therapeutics, has closed an upsized underwritten public offering of common stock and pre-funded warrants, including full exercise of an underwriters’ option, to raise gross proceeds of $460 million.  

Enliven’s lead program is ELVN-001, a Phase I small-molecule kinase inhibitor designed to specifically target the breakpoint cluster region–Abelson (BCR-ABL) gene fusion, an oncogenic driver for chronic myeloid leukemia.

Source: Enliven Therapeutics 

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PE firm Altaris To Acquire AI Drug-Development Company Simulations Plus for $375 M 
Altaris, a private equity firm, has agreed to acquire Simulations Plus, a Research Triangle Park, North Carolina-based AI drug-development company, for $375 million. At or about the closing of the transaction, Altaris anticipates the company will be combined with Chemical Computing Group, an existing Altaris portfolio company that provides advanced molecular design software.  

Source: Simulations Plus 

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Kardigan Announces Upsized $400-M IPO To Support Cardio Drug Pipeline 
Kardigan, a South San Francisco, California-based clinical-stage bio/pharmaceutical company developing cardiovascular drugs, has launched an upsized initial public offering (IPO) of 25 million shares of common stock at $16 per share. Gross proceeds from the offering are expected to be $400 million. The company launched its IPO this week (June 18, 2026) with the offering expected to close on June 22, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions.

Kardigan is led by Tassos Gianakakos, Co-Founder, CEO, and Chair of the company and former CEO of the cardiovascular drug-development company, MyoKardia, which was acquired by Bristol Myers Squibb for $13.1 billion in 2020. He subsequently co founded Prolaio, a cardiovascular technology and connected care company that is now a subsidiary of Kardigan. 

The company has three mid-stage in-licensed cardiovascular drug candidates: danicamtiv, an investigational drug discovered at MyoKardia and further developed by Bristol Myers Squibb; tonlamarsen, an investigational drug discovered and developed by Ionis Pharmaceuticals; and ataciguat, an investigational drug developed by, and in-licensed from, Sanofi and Mayo Clinic. 

Source: Kardigan