By targeting the underlying drivers of disease with a pipeline of complementary candidates, Kardigan is building a platform that accelerates insights into core cardiovascular pathways to address multiple conditions where no treatments exist

Kardigan, a heart health company modernizing cardiovascular drug development, today introduced the three late-stage clinical programs leading its robust pipeline, each strategically chosen to advance the Company’s mission of delivering multiple important medicines at a pace not previously seen in cardiology. These programs target the underlying drivers of specific types of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), acute severe hypertension (ASH) and calcific aortic valve stenosis (CAVS), where no treatments exist.

For decades, cardiovascular disease has been the number one cause of death worldwide.^1,2 In the U.S. alone, it claims more lives than all cancers and accidents combined.³ Despite this, conventional approaches to drug development, intermittent industry focus, and limited investment have resulted in incremental therapeutic advancements with minimal improvement in patient outcomes overall.

“To create meaningful change for patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, we need to think differently about how we develop new drugs,” said Tassos Gianakakos, co-founder, chief executive officer, and chair of Kardigan. “At Kardigan, we are uniting real-world patient data, AI insights and deep cardiovascular expertise to advance therapies with the potential to transform outcomes. Each of our therapeutic candidates is designed to address a specific subset of patients in key disease areas where we believe it is possible to halt disease progression or even deliver a functional cure. We are grateful for the continued support of our clinical collaborators who share our conviction that the time is now to pioneer a new scientific strategy aimed at making cardiovascular disease preventable, curable and no longer the leading cause of death in the world.”

Kardigan has curated a diverse pipeline with three late-stage clinical programs, each designed to move beyond symptom management and to redefine treatment approaches where patients and their families need it most. Collectively, the programs create opportunities to generate new clinical insights and data that will fuel Kardigan’s ongoing R&D and discovery efforts beyond these three disease areas. Supported by the integration of Prolaio’s AI and real-world data platform, Kardigan is enhancing its ability to generate insights that can inform trial design and potentially reduce the time and cost to develop meaningful new medicines.

Kardigan’s three most advanced programs include:

• DCM: a cardiac muscle disorder that carries significant risk of disease progression to advanced stages of heart failure. Despite the availability of treatments to address symptoms, there are no therapies that specifically reduce or reverse the progression of DCM pathophysiology. Kardigan is advancing danicamtiv, a potential first-in-class cardiac myosin activator targeting genetic DCM driven by sarcomeric mutations, to restore cardiac function through direct activation of both atrial and ventricular function. Data from a Phase 2a study of danicamtiv will be presented in a late-breaking oral session at the Heart Failure Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting 2025 on September 29, starting at 9:00 AM CT.
  
  
  
  Kardigan in-licensed exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to danicamtiv, an investigational drug discovered at MyoKardia and further developed by Bristol Myers Squibb.

• ASH: a sudden and severe spike in blood pressure requiring immediate attention to prevent heart attack, stroke or damage to other organs. While many patients who develop ASH have underlying chronic hypertension, the near-term risk associated with this acute event is underappreciated and rarely studied as a disease condition. There are currently no treatments indicated for ASH. Kardigan is developing tonlamarsen as an angiotensinogen-targeted bridging therapy to interrupt the dangerous cycle of ASH, with the potential to lower blood pressure and reduce risks of organ damage, heart failure and other serious cardiovascular events.
  
  
  
  Kardigan in-licensed exclusive worldwide development and commercialization rights to tonlamarsen, an investigational drug discovered and developed by Ionis.

• CAVS: calcium buildup on the aortic valve is the leading cause of aortic stenosis in adults in the U.S. and EU.⁴ There is a critical unmet need for treatment that can mitigate valve replacement surgery, a challenge compounded by limited understanding of the biology driving valvular calcification. Kardigan is developing ataciguat, a once-daily, oral soluble guanylate cyclase activator, as a potential first-in-class treatment for CAVS and an alternative to the current ‘watchful waiting’ approach and progression to valve replacement that is today’s standard of care.
  
  
  
  Kardigan acquired rights to ataciguat, an investigational drug developed by, and in-licensed from, Sanofi and Mayo Clinic.

“Our portfolio has been carefully designed to align with Kardigan’s criteria for developing synergistic therapies that target critical disease drivers, in each case with the potential to move beyond symptom management to functional cures,” said Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and chief medical officer. “With ample opportunity for learning across programs, we believe Kardigan’s cardiac intelligence platform will drive effective patient segmentation, streamline clinical trials and ultimately deliver novel therapies to patients who have the potential to benefit most.”

¹ Di Cesare M, Perel P, Taylor S, et al. “The heart of the world.” Global Heart, vol. 19, no. 1, 2024, p. 11. doi:10.5334/gh.1288.

² World Health Organization. “Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs).” WHO Fact Sheets, 31 July 2025. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cardiovascular-diseases-%28cvds%29

³ Martin SS, Aday AW, Allen NB, et al. “Heart disease and stroke statistics: A report of US and global data from the American Heart Association.” Circulation, vol. 151, no. 8, 2025, pp. e41–e660. doi:10.1161/CIR.0000000000001303.

⁴ Christensen JL, Tan S, Chung HE, et al. “Aortic valve calcification predicts all-cause mortality independent of coronary calcification and severe stenosis.” Atherosclerosis, vol. 307, 2020, pp. 16–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2020.06.019.Christensen et al., Atherosclerosis, 2020

About Kardigan

Kardigan is a patient-driven heart health company that is modernizing cardiovascular drug development to deliver medicines that move patients beyond symptom management to functional cures. By matching critical disease drivers with treatment responders identified in clinical trials, Kardigan is developing a portfolio of medicines with the potential to modify the underlying cardiovascular disease pathophysiology to get patients closer to the cures they deserve. The company is based in South San Francisco, California and Princeton, New Jersey. To learn more, visit Kardigan.bio.

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