Parabilis Medicines just put a very exact number on a very uncomfortable problem. $305M in Series F capital, closed Jan 8, 2026, oversubscribed, premium valuation, no theatrics. This is what happens when a company spends a decade walking straight at biology most people labeled undruggable and then shows up with human data that refuses to be ignored.
Parabilis Medicines started as FogPharma in 2015, built from Gregory Verdine’s conviction that intracellular protein interactions were not impossible, just inconvenient. Years in a Harvard lab turned into stapled peptides, which evolved into Helicon peptides, which became a platform that actually gets inside cells and binds targets others kept circling from a distance.
FOG-001, aka zolucatetide, is the proof point. A direct inhibitor of the beta-catenin TCF interaction, the structural backbone of the Wnt beta-catenin pathway driving disease across millions of cancer patients. More than 65 patients dosed. Desmoid tumors showing 100% tumor reduction in evaluable patients. FDA Fast Track granted Nov 2025. Those are outcomes, not optimism.
The round was co-led by RA Capital Management, Fidelity Management and Research Company, and Janus Henderson Investors, with new participation from Frazier Life Sciences and Soleus Capital, alongside a syndicate deep enough to recognize signal early and stay for the hard part. When that many disciplined investors lean in together, it is rarely about momentum and almost always about data.
Mathai Mammen stepped in as Chairman, CEO, and President in 2023 with a track record that includes reshaping global R&D at Johnson and Johnson and guiding 17 approved medicines to patients. Fawzi Benzaghou joined as CMO in 2025 with real oncology scar tissue. Gregory Miller, Brandon Allgood, Rohin Mhatre, and Markus Haeberlein give the platform operational gravity, not just scientific ambition.
Helicon is the quiet flex. Stabilized alpha-helical peptides, real cell penetration, tunable PK, and a chemical toolkit of 1,000+ non-canonical amino acids. Functional inhibitors, protein degraders, and radioligand therapeutics all live in one ecosystem. ARTBIO and nference are already integrated as force multipliers, not accessories.
The strategy stays disciplined. Start with genetically clean, smaller populations like desmoid tumors. Prove single-agent activity. Earn regulatory trust. Expand into CRC, HCC, and rational combinations that respect biology instead of marketing decks. Pipeline within a product stops being a phrase when the data keeps cooperating.
Parabilis is Latin for beyond what seems possible yet still attainable. $305M later, the message is simple. Real innovation does not shout. It compounds quietly until ignoring it becomes the most expensive decision in the room.
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