New York, June 18, 2026, 19:03 (EDT)
- Kardigan finished its first session at $22, up 37.5% from the $16 IPO price. The company brought in $400 million in an enlarged IPO on Nasdaq.
- Kardigan is the fourth biotech this year to pull in at least $400 million in its IPO, according to BioPharma Dive, adding to a solid stretch for big drug startup debuts.
- U.S. stocks open again on Monday. Nasdaq is closed Friday for Juneteenth, according to .
Kardigan Inc. shares surged Thursday as the heart-drug company started trading on Nasdaq. The IPO brought in $400 million after being upsized, getting Kardigan off to a strong start in the public market.
The stock finished the session at $22, up $6 from its $16 IPO price. Shares started at $16.25 and touched $23.75 before pulling back. In after-hours trading at 6:22 p.m. EDT, the price was at $21.22, still above the offer. The day saw 5.7 million shares traded, with the company valued near $1.93 billion.
Biotech investors have stayed picky even if they haven’t left the space. Kardigan is still in the clinic, with its drugs in human trials, but the company brought a slate of bigger and more advanced programs instead of just early lab assets.
Kardigan priced its IPO at $16 a share, moving 25 million shares. The offering is set to close June 22. J.P. Morgan, Jefferies, Leerink Partners and TD Securities are underwriting. An initial public offering is when a company sells shares to public investors for the first time.
The window for biotech IPOs is open again, at least for drugmakers with scale and solid investor support. Parabilis Medicines and Kailera Therapeutics have both raised big rounds this year. Generate:Biomedicines pulled in $400 million in February. Kardigan is now part of this group, pointing to a more active slate of 2026 biotech debuts instead of just a single standout.
IPOX Research Associate Lukas Muehlbauer told Reuters the rebound isn’t “a return to the 2020-2021 ‘free-for-all’.” Kardigan CEO Tassos Gianakakos said the move to go public brings “access to long-term investors.” He also told Reuters the company is looking for key data from its programs in the first half of next year. Reuters
Kardigan is moving forward with three heart drug candidates: danicamtiv in genetic dilated cardiomyopathy, ataciguat for moderate calcific aortic valve stenosis, and tonlamarsen in acute severe hypertension. All are in Phase 2b or Phase 2b/3, which typically look at whether the treatments show enough safety and effect to move to later stages, according to Kardigan.
Kardigan got a nod from investors for timing and its background. Gianakakos and Chief Medical Officer Jay Edelberg were involved with MyoKardia, later snapped up by Bristol Myers Squibb in a $13 billion deal. That track record draws investor attention. But the usual biotech risk is still there: a single bad trial result can knock the valuation down in a hurry.
Kardigan included a warning in its prospectus about its financial health. The company said its cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities at March 31 are not enough to fund operations for at least 12 months from May 26. Kardigan flagged “substantial doubt” about staying in business without new money. Its filing also points to how drug development takes a long time, costs a lot, and doesn’t guarantee success—trials can fail at any stage. More stock sales down the line would dilute current holders, leaving existing investors with a smaller stake. SEC
Kardigan got off to a good start, beating the broader biotech moves on its first day. The SPDR S&P Biotech ETF rose 0.9% and the iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF added 0.2% in Thursday evening quotes. But trading could pause for now. Nasdaq is closing Friday for Juneteenth, and the real test for the stock may come next week, when investors turn to the 2027 data rather than the debut demand.
