Braveheart Bio launches with $185M Series A, with lead program from Hengrui Medicine licensing deal

On November 5, Braveheart Bio — a late-stage clinical biotech company developing novel therapies for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and related diseases — announced its launch with a $185 million Series A financing round. The round saw participation from an experienced group of life science investors, including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z Bio + Health), Forbion, OrbiMed, Enavate Sciences, and Frazier Life Sciences.

On September 5, Braveheart Bio entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Hengrui Medicine, securing global rights — excluding Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR, and Taiwan — for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of HRS-1893 (BHB-1893), a selective reversible inhibitor of cardiac myosin, in a deal valued at over $1 billion.

Braveheart's small-molecule candidate BHB-1893 is a selective cardiac myosin inhibitor designed to improve cardiac function in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). In HCM, excessive contractility leads to myocardial thickening and reduced cardiac filling and pumping capacity. As one of the most common rare diseases, HCM affects approximately 1 in 500 people in the United States.

BHB-1893 has undergone extensive clinical development, including a Phase 2 dose-ranging study in symptomatic obstructive HCM (oHCM), an ongoing Phase 2 study in non-obstructive HCM, multiple clinical pharmacology studies (including a bridging study in Australia), and an ongoing Phase 3 oHCM study in China. The company plans to initiate global late-stage clinical development for BHB-1893 in 2026.

Early data from BHB-1893 in oHCM, recently presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2025, demonstrated rapid reduction in left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradient within days of treatment initiation, a shallow exposure-response curve for ejection fraction (EF), and a safety profile supporting a straightforward dosing regimen.