On January 28, 2026, a quiet address on Union Avenue in Baltimore put a loud number on the board. CraniUS Therapeutics LLC closed a $20 million Series B, and the timing matters because the problem they are chasing has been winning for decades. The blood brain barrier blocks roughly 95 percent of drugs from reaching brain tissue, which means innovation has been parked outside the venue, listening through the walls, hoping the bass leaks out.
CraniUS Therapeutics did not show up with hope. It showed up with hardware. Founded in May 2021 by Dr. Chad Gordon after more than fifteen years inside operating rooms and research labs at Johns Hopkins, the company grew out of a surgeon’s frustration turned obsession. The skull was not the obstacle. It was the opportunity. If the barrier would not open, go around it and stay there.
The answer is NeuroPASS, a fully implantable, skull embedded platform designed for long term, programmable drug delivery directly into the brain. No external ports. No visible hardware. It lives behind the ear, charges wirelessly, refills without surgery, and delivers via convection enhanced delivery instead of passive diffusion. CraniUS is not tossing medicine at the brain and praying. It is placing it exactly where it needs to be and controlling the flow.
This Series B brings total capital raised to roughly $40 million, with $19 million from private investors led by BRV Capital Management and Mirae Asset Venture Investment, plus $1 million in non dilutive support from the State of Maryland. The capital is earmarked for FDA IND submissions, manufacturing scale up with Medical Product Laboratories, product validation, and operational runway through 2027. Translation matters here. This money buys precision, patience, and proof.
Leadership reads like a deliberate collision of medicine, product, and scale. Dr. Chad Gordon remains the clinical spine. Michael Maglin brings operator discipline after building and monetizing digital platforms at Under Armour. Natalie Wisniewski holds the dual Chief Product Officer and Chief Technology Officer title, with a career spent turning implantable science into human reality. If this were a band, nobody is freelancing.
CraniUS already holds fifteen issued domestic patents, FDA IDE status, and preclinical validation in large animal models. The roadmap targets glioblastoma, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and other conditions where drugs exist but access does not. The name CraniUS is not branding theater. It is literal. The solution lives in the cranium, and it is unapologetically serious about staying there.
The market loves slogans. Biology does not. CraniUS Therapeutics is building infrastructure for the brain, and infrastructure changes what is possible after the headlines fade. The Series B is not a finish line. It is a pressure test, and the next data points will decide how much of modern neurology finally gets past the door.
