Kardigan Acquires Prolaio to Create a Pioneering Heart Health Company with One-of-a-Kind Integrated Cardiovascular Data and Therapeutics Platform

• Strategic business combination provides Kardigan with access to one of the largest curated cardiovascular clinical data sets in the industry
• Prolaio’s software and high-density data fortify Kardigan’s cardiac intelligence platform and directly advance its mission to develop multiple targeted medicines for cardiovascular disease, in parallel and at an unprecedented rate

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & PRINCETON, N.J. & CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kardigan, a heart health company modernizing cardiovascular (CV) drug development, announced today that it has acquired Prolaio, a clinical intelligence company advancing cardiology research and care with real-world patient data and insights. In addition to its FDA-cleared patient monitoring software, Prolaio has assembled one of the largest curated CV clinical data sets in the industry and developed world-leading analytics with an aim to predict and help clinicians proactively treat heart-related health challenges.

Through this strategic business combination, Kardigan gains access to Prolaio’s industry-leading CV data collection and analytics platform. Integrating Prolaio’s unique software and high-density patient data into its pipeline has the potential to optimize and accelerate Kardigan’s research and development — including progress across its portfolio of late-stage cardiovascular disease (CVD) assets — with improved outcomes at a fraction of the cost. With Kardigan's operational scale, Prolaio will be well-positioned to extend its reach and impact to both patients and providers who are seeking cost-effective solutions with the potential to improve outcomes and access to care, while enhancing patient satisfaction.

“Kardigan and Prolaio were both founded to challenge the status quo in cardiology. If we have any shot at radically reducing the time and cost to develop meaningful new medicines and provide better healthcare for patients, biopharma companies today need to fundamentally embrace real-world data and AI-based tools in a way that is fully integrated across R&D,” said Tassos Gianakakos, co-founder, chief executive officer, and chair of Kardigan, and co-founder of Prolaio. “By taking a combined approach, we are paving the way to do something that both big pharma and big tech have struggled to successfully implement to date. Together, Kardigan and Prolaio represent a new and exciting type of company focused on heart health.”

CVD is the number one cause of death worldwide with rates of disease continuing to worsen. Yet current standards of care don’t come close to addressing this global health emergency. Furthermore, advancements in CVD lag the therapeutic transformations seen in oncology and rare disease with precision medicines that effectively treat defined patient subgroups.

“We’ve long believed that meaningful data holds significant promise to transform the way we think about and approach therapeutic development. Cardiovascular disease is particularly well-positioned to benefit from this approach given the incredible amounts of information we’re able to gather from the heart with today’s technology,” said Jay Edelberg, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and chief medical officer of Kardigan, and co-founder of Prolaio. “By expanding our team of dedicated cardiovascular experts and leveraging one another’s unique drug development and technology-focused strengths, we are poised to establish a new and unrivaled understanding of heart health as we work to bring cardiovascular patients closer to the cures they deserve.”

Prolaio’s platform includes a tech-enabled clinical trial enrichment capability, which translates high-density data into insights specifically designed for CV conditions. This connected data platform enables researchers to optimize clinical study design, increase statistical power, reduce overhead, and enhance confidence with better data throughout the study. In addition to these clinical research capabilities, Prolaio has significant potential to improve how patients access individualized care in the future, transforming CV care delivery as well as patient engagement and satisfaction. Prolaio will continue to function independently as a CV-focused technology company providing real-world driven insights and services to both its biopharma and CV provider partners.

Kardigan’s unique R&D platform leverages a proprietary set of cardiac-specific tools — in which Prolaio will play a central role — that enable a deep understanding of the mechanisms across its potential medicines as well as patients’ individualized responses to treatment. This approach matches critical disease drivers with treatment responders to streamline clinical trials and deliver novel therapies to those who have the greatest potential to benefit, while identifying alternative therapies for those who may not.

The Prolaio platform has been rigorously validated with five FDA-cleared algorithms, more than four million hours of patient data, 20+ issued patents, and has operated in over 26 countries worldwide.

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 that 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.

About Prolaio

Prolaio is a patient-centered clinical intelligence company dedicated to advancing today’s cardiology research and care ecosystem. The company was created by cardiologists and cardiovascular scientists specifically to address the world’s number one cause of death, cardiovascular disease. Its FDA-cleared software integrates real‑world clinical data and proprietary algorithms to deliver outcome‑driven insights to empower patients, researchers, physicians, and product leaders. By combining scientific rigor with cutting‑edge technology, Prolaio aims to expedite clinical trials and improve patient outcomes across cardiology therapeutic areas. The company is based in Chicago. To learn more, visit Prolaio.com.