aibioCuris raises $20.2 million up front in a PIPE that could bring in up to $80.8 million
Tickers CRIS
The emavusertib developer sold preferred stock with three warrant series at $0.75, one of them timed to an enrollment goal in its leukemia trial.
Key facts
- Company
- Curis, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRIS)
- News type
- Financings
- Primary source
- Curis, Inc.
Curis, a Lexington, Mass., cancer drug developer, agreed on Jan. 7, 2026 to sell securities in a private placement worth up to $80.8 million in gross proceeds. About $20.2 million came in up front. The rest depends on investors exercising three series of warrants at $0.75 a share.
Curis announced the closing on Jan. 9. Nantahala Capital, Stonepine Capital Management, Pointillist Partners and The Red Hook Fund led the purchase, joined by other new and existing institutional investors and members of Curis management and its board.
What happened
Curis sold 20,195 units, which it calls Securities, at $1,000 each, according to the pricing release. Each one holds a share of Series B convertible preferred stock and three warrants, labeled Series A, B and C, each for about 1,333.33 common shares. The preferred stock converts into common stock only after stockholders approve, and the warrants cannot be exercised before that vote either.
The insiders who bought in included the chief executive, chief financial officer, chief medical officer, chief development officer and a board member, the release said. Laidlaw & Company (UK) acted as sole placement agent. The securities were not registered, and Curis agreed to file a resale registration statement for the underlying common stock.
Deal terms
Each warrant series covers 26,926,675 common shares, or pre-funded warrants in some cases, at an exercise price of $0.75. In its fourth-quarter update, Curis said each series could bring in up to $20.2 million. Series A warrants run to Jan. 8, 2031. Series B warrants are tied to the clinic: they expire 30 days after Curis announces that the fifth patient has been dosed in its phase 2 study of emavusertib with an approved BTK inhibitor in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Series C warrants expire on July 8, 2027.
That structure gives Curis staged funding. The first tranche pays the bills now, and the Series B tranche is built to arrive soon after an early enrollment goal, if the stock trades above the strike.
Why it matters
Curis has one main asset. Emavusertib (CA-4948) is an oral drug that blocks IRAK4 and FLT3, licensed from Aurigene Discovery Technologies in 2015, per the pricing release. It is in the TakeAim Lymphoma phase 1/2 study with ibrutinib in relapsed or refractory primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL), and in the phase 2 CLL study. The FDA has granted it orphan drug designation in PCNSL, acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes.
The company needed the cash. Curis ended 2025 with $5.1 million in cash and cash equivalents, plus $0.5 million of restricted cash. It said year-end cash, the $20.2 million received in January and up to $20.2 million from the Series B warrants should fund operations "into the second half of 2027." Based on FDA and EMA talks, Curis said the lymphoma study "is intended to support filings for accelerated approval in PCNSL in the US and Europe."
What it means for investors
The $80.8 million headline overstates what is assured. Only a quarter of it arrived at closing, and the rest relies on the share price staying above a $0.75 strike when each warrant series comes due. The pricing release itself warned that Curis "will require substantial additional funding in the immediate term" to take emavusertib through approval. Three full warrant series on top of convertible preferred stock also mean large potential dilution once stockholders approve conversion.
The milestone design ties funding to execution, which can work in both directions. In a later update, Curis said on July 30, 2026 that it had dosed the first five CLL patients, the event that starts the Series B warrant clock, while still warning that it did not have enough cash to support operations over the next 12 months.
What to watch
Curis said in July that it expects initial CLL data from 5 to 10 patients in December 2026. Enrollment in the TakeAim Lymphoma study, which the company hopes will support accelerated approval filings in PCNSL, is the other disclosed milestone.