Recent Funding:
Triangle Health (CA) Raises $4M for AI Health Assistant to Help Patients Navigate Medical Care
Triangle Health raised $4 million led by SNR.vc to build an AI assistant that helps patients understand health conditions and explore treatment options by analyzing their complete medical history. The platform can brainstorm treatments, prepare doctor appointment questions, and check drug/supplement safety without providing diagnoses. Users pay $9/month for AI access, up to $999 for deeper research plus eight clinician sessions. Founded in fall 2024 by Arun Verma (who used AI to navigate his own brain tumor diagnosis and find personalized treatment in Germany), the company responds to growing patient use of AI for health—32% of people now use AI chatbots for health info in 2025, double the 2024 rate. Triangle differentiates with a longitudinal approach for chronic/complex conditions and offers human doctor consultations to review AI suggestions.
New York-based Blackstone closed the largest-ever private life sciences investment fund at $6.3 billion—more than half of all 2025 fundraising combined. Unlike high-risk venture capital, Blackstone backs late-stage programs with blockbuster potential, boasting an 86% Phase 3 approval success rate. The fund already deployed $2 billion in 12 months and expects to invest $1.5-$2 billion annually. Blackstone’s portfolio includes hundreds of millions committed to Moderna’s flu program, Merck’s ADC sac-TMT, and Teva/Sanofi’s anti-TL1A (its first China deal via Kelun-Biotech). The firm also backed Anthos Therapeutics, which Novartis acquired for $925 million upfront last year. Global head Nick Galakatos said the “all-weather strategy” thrives during market uncertainty, with investors seeking partners with deep capital.
Centivax closed an oversubscribed $37 million financing led by Structure Fund (with Meiji Seika Pharma, Sigmas Group, Kendall Capital, and Stripe co-founder Patrick Collison) to advance Centi-Flu 01, a universal flu vaccine targeting conserved viral regions for broad protection against seasonal and pandemic strains without annual reformulation. The ongoing Phase 1 study (300+ subjects, nearly all 180 Phase 1a participants enrolled) reads out in 2026 and tests against 24 flu strains. Phase 2 (500 subjects) starts early 2027 to evaluate superiority against mismatch/circulating strains versus current vaccines. This builds on Centivax’s $45 million Series A (June 2025) led by Steve Jurvetson’s Future Ventures. Current seasonal flu vaccines have 10-60% effectiveness and fail against pandemics (five in last century). New capital will also advance four follow-on programs to clinical readiness (broad cancer therapy, malaria vaccine, universal antivenom published in Cell, and Alzheimer’s preventative) and deploy scalable cell-free GMP manufacturing in 2026. CEO Jacob Glanville said financing “empowers Centivax to seize control of the means of production” for all current and future programs while avoiding fundraising delays between Phase 1 and Phase 2.
M&A, Deals, Partnerships:
Gilead is acquiring Ouro Medicines for approximately $1.68 billion upfront (plus up to $500 million in milestones) to gain gamgertamig, a BCMA x CD3 bispecific T-cell engager in Phase 1/2 for rare antibody-mediated autoimmune diseases including autoimmune hemolytic anemia and immune thrombocytopenia. The asset has Fast Track designation and is expected to enter registrational studies in 2027. In an unusual arrangement, Gilead will immediately partner with Galapagos (in which Gilead owns 25%) to co-develop the drug. Galapagos will pay half the upfront/milestones to Ouro and cover all development costs through Phase 3, after which costs split equally. Gilead gets commercialization rights outside China while Galapagos receives 20-23% royalties. The deal rescues Galapagos, which was down to 35-40 employees after restructuring from 700, and will absorb Ouro’s workforce. Ouro licensed gamgertamig from China’s Keymed, continuing the trend of Western companies licensing Chinese T-cell engagers for autoimmune diseases.
Merck is paying $6.7 billion ($53/share, 31% premium) to acquire Terns Pharmaceuticals for TERN-701, a small molecule targeting chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) that hit a 64% major molecular response rate by 24 weeks in Phase 1. Merck CEO Rob Davis called it a “multibillion-dollar-plus opportunity” to compete with Novartis’ Scemblix ($1.3 billion in 2025 sales). Pivotal trial expected late 2026 or early 2027, with market entry before 2031. Terns recently pivoted from obesity/MASH (shelving a GLP-1 in October as “not best-in-class”) to focus solely on oncology—a bet that paid off. The company had ~$1 billion in cash and told investors it could go independent, but Merck swooped in. This adds to Merck’s $15+ billion oncology acquisition spree since 2019 as it builds a pipeline to replace Keytruda ($31.7 billion in 2025 sales, 48% of company revenue). Deal closes Q2 2026. Analysts believe Merck undervalued TERN-701’s potential.
Novartis is paying up to $2 billion (upfront plus milestones) to acquire Excellergy and its next-gen IgE antibody Exl-111, which just entered Phase 1. Unlike Novartis’ blockbuster Xolair ($1.72 billion in 2025 sales) that only blocks free IgE in bloodstream, Exl-111 also pulls IgE off immune cells already carrying the antibody—potentially improving symptom control and convenience for food allergies, chronic urticaria, and allergic asthma. The deal comes as Xolair (approved 2003) faces looming biosimilar competition. Excellergy’s Phase 1 dose-finding trial started recruiting last month with Xolair as comparator; certain data expected by year-end. This marks a quick exit for Excellergy, which raised $70 million Series A just in October 2025. The next-gen IgE space is heating up—GSK paid $1.9 billion upfront for RAPT Therapeutics partly for ozureprubart (Phase 2b food allergies), while Merida Biosciences and Poplar Therapeutics also compete in early stages.
Other Interesting News:
Aardvark Therapeutics (SD) Halts Entire Pipeline After Pausing Two Phase 2 Obesity Trials
Aardvark Therapeutics paused two Phase 2 obesity trials testing ARD-201 (combination of ARD-101 plus DPP-4 inhibitor) for weight loss prevention and weight loss with GLP-1s after cardiac safety concerns emerged in its Phase 3 Prader-Willi syndrome trial of ARD-101. The gut-targeting taste receptor agonist, designed to stimulate GLP-1 and satiety hormone release, showed “reversible cardiac observations at above target therapeutic doses” in the rare disease trial, halting it earlier in March. Aardvark’s entire pipeline is now on hold as the company reviews data and engages urgently with the FDA. William Blair analysts noted the cardiac events “could be mechanism-based and call into question the therapeutic window,” elevating clinical risk. Stock collapsed 54% when the Phase 3 pause was announced in early March and now trades at $4.06, down from ~$16 at its $94 million IPO last year. ARD-201 had been positioned as a potential “oral and more tolerable alternative” to Lilly and Novo’s GLP-1 blockbusters.
Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals’ technology platform got early validation as Sarepta (paid $500 million upfront in 2024 for 7 Arrowhead programs) reported Phase 1/2 single-dose data showing SRP-1001 achieved 28.4 nM muscle concentration in FSHD1 versus median 4.5 nM on Avidity’s pivotal trial dose, with “potentially unprecedented” target gene suppression. SRP-1003 showed 50% placebo-adjusted DMPK gene reduction in DM1, exceeding preclinical predictions, with muscle concentration “manyfold” higher than rival siRNA and ASO assets at lowest dose. Arrowhead’s peptide-linked siRNA approach aims to outperform Avidity’s antibody-linked siRNA (Phase 3) and Dyne’s ASO in muscle diseases. Sarepta noted Avidity “failed to show dose response” (46%, 44%, 37% reductions at escalating doses) while highlighting superior muscle penetration with Arrowhead’s technology. Most adverse events were mild-to-moderate. Sarepta stock rose 14% to $20 in premarket trading. The programs are “critical to Sarepta’s future” per analysts who call it “essentially an early clinical-stage company” due to core business threats.
Maze Therapeutics reported Phase 2 data showing its once-daily oral APOL1 inhibitor MZE829 reduced excess urine protein by 35.6% average across 12 APOL1-mediated kidney disease (AMKD) patients after 12 weeks, surpassing the 30% benchmark. In the subset with focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), the drug achieved ~62% reduction in 4 patients versus Vertex’s inaxaplin’s 43% in 13 FSGS patients. No serious adverse events; most common side effects were headache and diarrhea. Despite Mizuho analysts calling it “likely approvable” with “best-in-class potential” and Leerink deeming the selloff an “overreaction,” Maze’s stock plunged 38% to ~$30/share as investors fixated on lower efficacy in diabetic patients versus non-diabetic patients. Maze is advancing to pivotal trial and continuing Phase 2 enrollment to refine the patient population. Vertex is running a larger Phase 2/3 trial of inaxaplin in AMKD (including diabetics) with data expected later this year. CEO said showing “any signal in diabetes” moves the field forward and called it “a potential medicine for broad AMKD.”
Kardigan reported Phase 2 data from its KARDINAL trial showing its antisense drug tonlamarsen (licensed from Ionis) produced an unexpected result: a single 90 mg dose lowered blood pressure (~6.7 mmHg drop) just as well as five monthly doses in treatment-resistant hypertension patients already on 2-5 medications. While repeat dosing cut the target protein angiotensinogen (AGT) by 67% versus 23% with single dose, this didn’t translate to better blood pressure control. CEO called the prolonged single-dose effect on blood pressure “honestly a bit of a surprise.” Kardigan (emerged January 2025 with $300 million funding) plans a Phase 2b trial later this year in acute severe hypertension (ASH) patients hospitalized for dangerous blood pressure spikes. Post-hoc analysis showed the multi-dose group had 28% fewer surges above 150 mmHg. The company will track patients with wearables after discharge to keep them “out of trouble” for 90 days and reduce hospitalizations/mortality. Tonlamarsen will face competition from AstraZeneca’s baxdrostat (approval imminent) and Mineralys’ aldosterone synthase inhibitor, though CEO says they act on different pathways and could be synergistic.
Braveheart Bio reported Phase 2 data showing its cardiac myosin inhibitor BHB-1893 (licensed from China’s Hengrui for $65 million upfront plus up to $1.01 billion in milestones) normalized left ventricular outflow tract gradient (LVOT-G) in 86% of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (oHCM) patients at 3 months, rising to 88% after 9 months. The drug works within days versus weeks-to-months for BMS’ Camzyos and Cytokinetics’ Myqorzo, with no patients stopping due to side effects or experiencing ejection fraction drops below 55% (a limiting safety issue for competitors requiring dose reductions at <50%). CEO Travis Murdoch (who sold HI-Bio to Biogen for $1.15 billion in 2024) says Braveheart plans to commercialize alone for the orphan indication and will launch its own U.S. Phase 3 this year (Hengrui already running China Phase 3). The company believes it avoids Camzyos’ drug-drug interaction concerns and offers superior pharmacokinetics. Phase 2 data in non-obstructive HCM expected mid-year—notable since Camzyos’ pivotal trial in this form failed. Braveheart retained worldwide rights except Greater China.
