Alaunos buys Velaris as ex-Apogee team joins Paragon after $10.9B AbbVie deal
What's the deal? Alaunos Therapeutics has acquired Velaris TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a privately held biotech developing treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension and related cardiopulmonary diseases. Terms were undisclosed. The deal, announced October 13, 2026, hands the combined company a pipeline of ActRII-Fc ligand traps and complementary biologics targeting the signaling imbalances behind pulmonary vascular remodeling.
Where Velaris came from: It is the ninth company built around assets discovered by Paragon LabsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Waltham-based biotech founded by investment firm FairmountDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in 2021. Paragon identifies therapeutic opportunities, develops differentiated biologics, and launches companies around them — a model that previously produced Apogee Therapeutics, Spyre TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, and Oruka TherapeuticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, among others.
The leadership move: Velaris is the first company backed by Paragon's expanded leadership team, made up of former senior executives from Apogee Therapeutics. Michael Henderson leads as chief executive officer, with Carl Dambkowski as head of R&D, alongside new business, legal, and people chiefs. The group joined Paragon after AbbVie acquired Apogee in 2026 for over $10.9 billion.
Why now? At Apogee, the team advanced five Paragon-discovered assets into clinical development. Their arrival adds clinical and operational muscle to Paragon's discovery engine.
What's the endgame? Paragon wants to apply clinical and regulatory thinking earlier in a program's life. "We now have an opportunity to apply those lessons to clinical development, regulatory strategy and execution from the very start," Henderson said, so licensees "can bring them to patients even faster."
The signal: Paragon is industrialising biotech creation — discover an asset, spin out a company, exit, then recycle talent and lessons into the next venture. With a $10.9 billion AbbVie exit behind them and a ninth company now sold, the Fairmount–Paragon playbook is proving it can repeat.
Read more: prnewswire.com
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