JPM Deals Recap: Boston Scientific Acquisition, a Mega Round for Parabalis, Enodia Emerges & More

The annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference draws the attention of much of the healthcare industry, making the event a popular time to announce deals. Acquisition announcements were not as prolific this year. Outside of a Boston Scientific buyout, no major M&A deals were unveiled during the conference. Perhaps that’s because so many acquisitions were announced as 2024 drew to a close.

The sentiment of conferencegoers was optimistic, with some citing the IPO of Aktis Oncology as a possible sign of a reopening biotech IPO market. Financing activity is also picking up for startups, and many of them timed new financing announcements for JPM week. While most of the rounds were for clinical-stage companies, the financings also include some seed-stage companies, which could turn the tide of slowing seed and early-stage venture activity reported by J.P. Morgan in its Q4 2025 Biopharma and Licensing Report.

Here’s a recap of some of the deals announced leading up to the conference and during JPM week:

Immunology & Inflammation

—Caldera Therapeutics launched, revealing $112.5 million raised to date to support CLD-423, a bispecific antibody in early clinical development for inflammatory bowel disease and other immunologic and inflammatory disorders. The funding breaks down to a $75 million Series A round from investors Atlas Venture, LAV, and venBio. Most recently, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based startup said it had closed $37.5 million in Series A-1 financing led by Omega Funds.

—Mirador Therapeutics said it closed a $250 million Series B financing in the third quarter of 2025 to bring its clinical-stage programs to clinical proof of concept and support the rest of its pipeline. Mirador expects clinical readouts for more than 10 studies by the end of 2027 in indications such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Mirador launched in 2024, backed by $400 million. The company’s latest financing included new investment from funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Adage Capital Partners, and additional funds managed by Fidelity Management & Research Company.

—Enodia Therapeutics raised €20.7 million (about $25 million) to support development of small molecule target protein degrader drugs for autoimmune disorders. The seed financing was co-led by Elaia, Pfizer Ventures, and Bpifrance.

—Poplar Therapeutics launched with $50 million to fund an ongoing Phase 1 test of PHB-050, an anti-immunoglobulin E antibody in development for treating food allergy. Data are expected in the second half of 2026. SR One, Vida Ventures, and Platanus led Poplar’s Series A financing.

Cancer Drugs

—Parabilis Medicines, formerly FogPharma, unveiled a $305 million round of funding as lead cancer drug zolucatetide (FOG-001) progresses toward a registrational study in desmoid tumors. The company will also continue exploring potential applications of the peptide drug to other tumor types. RA Capital Management, Fidelity Management & Research Company, and Janus Henderson Investors co-led Parabilis’s Series F round.

—Vibrant Therapeutics raised $61 million as it prepares for U.S. clinical testing of VIB305, a T-cell engager prodrug designed to remain inactive in circulation and healthy tissues, but selectively activating within the tumor microenvironment. The startup, which has operations in Guangzhou, China, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, said the financing added new investors Pfizer Ventures and Apricot Capital.

—Cell therapy biotech Orca Bio raised $250 million as it prepares for potential commercialization of Orca-T, an allogeneic T-cell immunotherapy developed for leukemias. Orca-T has an April 6 target date for an FDA regulatory decision. Lightspeed Ventures led Orca Bio’s Series F financing.

—Rakuten Medical has $100 million to fund a global Phase 3 test of ASP-1929, in combination with the Merck immunotherapy Keytruda, as a first-line treatment for recurrent head and neck cancer. The Rakuten photoimmunotherapy has two key steps: administration of the therapy followed by use of a medical device to illuminate targeted cells to transiently activate the drug. TaiAx Life Science Fund led Rakuten’s Series F round.

—Soley Therapeutics has $200 million to support its pipeline, which includes two internally discovered cancer drugs as well as programs in areas such as neurodegenerative disorders and metabolic diseases. Surveyor Capital was the primary investor in Soley’s Series C round.

—EpiBiologics secured $107 million to advance to the clinic with lead program EPI-326, a tissue-selective bispecific antibody designed to degrade all oncogenic forms of the cancer protein EGFR. The company plans to test the drug in non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. GV and Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JJDC co-led EpiBiologics’ Series B financing.

Rare Disease

—Diagonal Therapeutics has $125 million for clinical testing of DIAG723, which the startup is developing to correct the underlying cause of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT), a rare blood vessel disorder with no FDA-approved treatments. The drug, a clustering antibody, could also become a treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Diagonal launched in 2024 backed by $128 million. The latest financing, a Series B round, was co-led by Sanofi Ventures and Janus Henderson Investors.

Diagnostics

—Precision diagnostics startup Precede Biosciences has $83.5 million in new financing. The startup’s technology analyzes patient blood to inform diagnostic and treatment decisions; it’s also used by companies developing precision medicines. Precede said the new capital will support commercialization of its technology. The financing breaks down to a $63.5 million Series B round and a $20 million non-dilutive credit facility. New investors in the Series B round include the Labcorp Venture Fund, UPMC Enterprises, Mirae Asset Capital Life Science, Mirae Asset Capital, 28 Capital, and Alexandria Venture Investments.

Respiratory Disorders

—AirNexis Therapeutics launched, backed by a $200 million Series A financing to support Phase 2 testing of AN01, a PDE3/4 inhibitor in development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The inhaled drug was licensed from Haisco Pharmaceutical Group. AirNexis’s financing was led by Frazier Life Sciences.

—Kinaset Therapeutics closed $103 million in Series B financing to support Phase 2 testing of frevectinib, an inhaled pan-JAK inhibitor in development for asthma. New investors RA Capital Management and Forge Life Science Partners led the financing.

Cell Therapies, Genetic Medicines

—Medipost, a company developing allogeneic stem cell therapies derived from umbilical cord blood, raised $140 million. The capital will support Phase 3 testing of its mesenchymal stem cell therapy for knee osteoarthritis. Skylake Equity Partners and Crescenda Equity Partners led the financing.

—Founded by CRISPR gene-editing pioneers Jennifer Doudna and Fyodor Urnov, Aurora Therapeutics launched with $16 million to support development of personalized gene-editing therapies to treat rare genetic mutations that have been historically impossible to address at scale. Menlo Ventures provided Aurora’s seed financing.

—Beacon Therapeutics raised more than $75 million to complete pivotal testing of laru-zova, a gene therapy in development for X-linked retinitis pigmentosa. Life Sciences at Goldman Sachs Alternatives led the Series C round, which will also support other programs in Beacon’s pipeline.

Cardiometabolic Disease

—Alveus Therapeutics launched with $159.8 million to support a pipeline of obesity drugs led by ALV-100, a fusion protein that hits GLP-1 and GIP, the same two targets addressed by Amgen’s MariTide. New Rhein Healthcare Investors, Andera Partners, and Omega Funds led Alveus’s Series A round.

—Corsera Health raised $80 million as it begins Phase 1 testing of COR-1004, a small interfering RNA therapy that targets the liver protein PCSK9, a driver of high cholesterol. The funding will also support development of a platform technology to predict lifetime cardiovascular disease risk. Forbion and Population Health Partners co-led the Series A financing.

Medtech Deals

— Boston Scientific agreed to buy Penumbra in a $14.5 billion cash-and-stock deal that values the neurovascular and peripheral vascular device maker at about $374 per share. Penumbra’s portfolio includes mechanical thrombectomy and vascular devices used to treat conditions such as stroke, pulmonary embolism and deep-vein thrombosis — which would boost Boston Scientific’s cardiovascular and neurovascular offerings. Separately, Boston Scientific last week struck a deal to buy Valencia Technologies, which makes an implantable tibial nerve stimulation system for urinary incontinence. Financial terms were not disclosed.

—Nvidia and Eli Lilly are investing $1 billion over five years into a joint innovation lab in South San Francisco. The lab will bring together Lilly’s biology, chemistry and medical experts with Nvidia’s AI engineers to create more powerful models that can speed up the identification and validation of new drug molecules. The partners said one key focus will be building a “continuous learning system” that connects Lilly’s wet labs with computational dry labs so AI can assist researchers, as well as improve experiments and model development, around the clock. The lab is expected to be functional early this year.

—OpenAI acquired medical records startup Torch to bolster its newly launched healthcare offerings. The deal is reportedly worth $100 million in equity. Torch’s technology unifies fragmented health data — including lab results, medications and doctor visit records — into a single, longitudinal medical profile, which will now be used to provide more contextualized health insights to ChatGPT Health users. The goal is to strengthen ChatGPT Health’s ability to generate responses that are more personalized and clinically relevant.

—VieCure raised $43 million to expand the use of its platform, which helps clinicians design personalized cancer treatment plans at the point of care. The platform combines clinical data, molecular testing results and treatment guidelines to help oncologists tailor care plans to each patient. Danaher co-founder Mitch Rales and Northpond Ventures led VieCure’s funding round, which the company said will accelerate its mission to expand access to precision oncology, particularly for community cancer clinics where most patients receive treatment.

Katie Adams contributed to this report.

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