Oorja Bio Inc., named after the phonetic spelling of “energy” in Sanskrit, secured $30 million from founding investor Westlake Biopartners in a series A financing round to advance its in-licensing approach to develop drugs for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and other fibrotic and cardiopulmonary diseases.
Create Medicines Inc. closed a $122 million series B financing round to support its pipeline of therapies that use mRNAs delivered via liquid nanoparticles to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) in T cells, NK cells and myeloid cells inside the body of patients. The Cambridge, Mass.-based company estimates the capital will last through 2028, providing the opportunity for multiple clinical readouts of its various products.
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. stuck with the tradition of releasing bad news on Friday afternoon and good news on Monday morning with a pair of announcements bracketing the weekend. On May 15, 2026, the Tarrytown, N.Y.-based company announced disappointing data for its LAG-3 inhibitor fianlimab. And then on May 18, 2026, Regeneron announced better news in the form of a deal with Parabilis Medicines Inc.
Anaptysbio Inc. announced in September of 2025 that it planned to separate its drug development business from the royalties it receives on Jemperli (dostarlimab) from GSK plc and imsidolimab from Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Just seven months later, on April 20, 2026, well ahead of its “year-end 2026” goal, First Tracks Biotherapeutics Inc., the drug development arm of the company, started trading as a standalone company on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol TRAX.
Tortugas Neuroscience Inc. came out of its shell to announce the raising of $106 million between its seed and series A financing rounds. “We like the symbolism of the sea turtle – long-lived, persistent, very determined,” Tortugas CEO Jeff Jonas said of the company’s name.
Novo Nordisk A/S reported top-line results from the phase III Hibiscus study of its pyruvate kinase-R activator, etavopivat, which was acquired through the 2022 buyout of Forma Therapeutics Holdings Inc. The results set up a potential competition for patients afflicted by sickle cell disease with fellow PKR activator mitapivat from Agios Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Spyre Therapeutics Inc. is off to a good start in its goal to create the best combination therapy for inflammatory bowel disease, a group of chronic, relapsing autoimmune conditions of the digestive tract that encompasses Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The Waltham, Mass.-based company estimates the market for IBD is currently at approximately $25 billion but will jump to around $40 billion in 2030.
Realta Life Sciences Inc. raised an additional $40 million in the final tranche of its series A investment, bringing the total the company has raised to more than $150 million through mission-driven investors and a family-office model.
Stipple Bio Inc. raised $100 million in a series A financing to support progression of the company’s lead drug, STP-100, an antibody-drug conjugate that binds an undisclosed target, and the company’s Pointillist discovery platform. The round was co-led by RA Capital, a16z Bio+Health and Nextech Invest. Existing investors, including Emerson Collective Investments (managed by Yosemite), GV (Google Ventures), Lola Capital Partners, GordonMD Global Investments and others, also participated in the round.
Stipple Bio Inc. raised $100 million in a series A financing to support progression of the company’s lead drug, STP-100, an antibody-drug conjugate that binds an undisclosed target, and the company’s Pointillist discovery platform.
