One takeaway from this year’s surge of biotech IPO activity is that investors want to see at least some clinical data before a company makes its stock market debut. Braveheart Bio has mid-stage trial results indicating its lead cardiovascular drug could have a competitive edge over commercialized medicines from Bristol Myers Squibb and Cytokinetics, and in a big week for biotech IPOs, the young company pulled off the biggest one.
Braveheart’s $382 million IPO topped upsized stock new stock issuances from immunology biotech Attovia Therapeutics, pain drug developer Latigo Biotherapeutics, and cancer therapies company BlossomHill Therapeutics. All four finished the week trading at or above their IPO prices.
IPOs comes in cycles. During the pandemic, IPOs for biotech companies, many of them early stage or even preclinical, reached record levels. In the years since, there have been company shutdowns and consolidations, Matt Phipps, partner and group head, biotechnology research, at William Blair, said during a panel discussion at the MedCity News Bullseye event in Chicago in late July. He added that investors consider preclinical stage too early for a company to go public, and the current IPO market more closely resembles 2017, when biotechs eyeing IPOs had some clinical data.
“Now I think we’re back to what seems a little bit healthier of at least having some proof of concept [data], even if it’s Phase 1,” Phipps said.
Chris Garabedian, chairman and CEO of Xontogeny, said the stronger IPO activity of 2026 tracks with other strong financial signals. Biotech financings have returned and M&A activity is on track to reach record levels, he said during the panel. The biotech IPO market of 2026 more closely resembles that of 2017.
“Companies that did manage to secure a Series B to get them into the clinic or get clinical data — that is what we see in this pent-up [IPO] demand,” Garabedian said. “Those were the companies that, during that five years, they couldn’t go public, but they were able to get private capital, and they had data, and they were further along, and it was not the type of IPO that we saw in 2020, 2021.”
Of the four biotechs that went public this past week, Attovia, Latigo, and BlossomHill fit the profile Garabedian described. All three were founded in the pandemic years and raised private rounds of financing to advance their programs to the clinic. Braveheart is a much newer company, going public nearly a year after licensing from Hengrui Pharma what is now its lead program. But Braveheart still fits the profile of 2026 biotech IPOs in that it has data to show investors to de-risk the investment.
Braveheart’s BHB-1893 is an oral small molecule in development for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a cardiovascular disorder in which thickening heart muscle makes it harder for the organ to pump blood, potentially progressing to heart failure. The thickening develops from excessive activity of a cardiac protein called myosin. BHB-1893 is a small molecule myosin inhibitor.
Obstructive HCM is currently treatable with two myosin inhibitors. BMS was first with Camzyos, which was approved in 2022 and entered blockbuster sales territory in 2025. Late last year, the FDA approved Myqorzo, a myosin inhibitor developed by Cytokinetics. The labels of both products carry black box warnings for cardiovascular risks. The approvals of both drugs also require a mitigation program that informs prescribers and patients about how to monitor and manage these risks, though analysts view the program for the Cytokinetics drug as less restrictive.
In an interview last year, Braveheart CEO Travis Murdoch said his company licensed the Hengrui drug after seeing encouraging Phase 1 and Phase 2 data indicating it could have a safety edge and simpler dose titration. In May, Hengrui and Braveheart announced preliminary Phase 2 data for the drug in non-obstructive HCM, which is less common than obstructive HCM. It’s an indication with no FDA-approved therapies and one where the Bristol drug failed. Meanwhile, BHB-1893’s Phase 3 results showed improvements across various measures cardiac measures along with favorable tolerability. In the IPO filing, Braveheart said it is preparing for global Phase 3 tests of BHB-1893 in both obstructive HCM and non-obstructive HCM.
“Our goal is to improve the treatment options for patients with HCM and other cardiovascular diseases,” Braveheart said in the filing. “We believe BHB 1893 can meaningfully improve upon first generation [cardiac myosin inhibitors] and address key limitations such as speed of onset, depth of gradient response, systolic safety, reversibility, and prescribing complexity.”
Braveheart plans to spend about $90 million to advance BHB-1893 through the completion of a Phase 3 test in obstructive HCM. This trial is expected to start in the second half of this year; preliminary data are expected in the second half of next year. Another $100 million is budgeted for Phase 3 testing of this drug in non-obstructive HCM, a trial expected to begin in the first half of 2027.
Braveheart set preliminary financial terms of 18.75 million shares offered in the range of $15 to $17 each. Last Wednesday, the company ended up offering 21.25 million shares priced at $18 each, raising $382.5 million. Braveheart’s shares closed Friday at $30 each, finishing their first week on the Nasdaq up more than 66% from the IPO price. After Friday’s market close, Braveheart announced that underwriters exercised their option to purchase additional shares, bringing the biotech’s total financial haul to $439.9 million.
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