Enliven Therapeutics

Enliven Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ELVN) is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of small molecule therapeutics using a precision oncology approach. The company describes its discovery process as combining insights into clinically validated biological targets with differentiated chemistry to design potentially first-in-class or best-in-class therapies. Earlier company materials characterized Enliven as a precision oncology company focused on next-generation small molecule kinase inhibitors.

The lead clinical asset, ELVN-001, is a BCR-ABL1 inhibitor being developed for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia; it is described as designed to overcome resistance mutations, including the T315I gatekeeper mutation, that limit approved tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as imatinib, dasatinib and ponatinib. A second clinical asset, ELVN-002, is a HER2-selective inhibitor for HER2-mutant solid tumors. Management has stated plans to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 trial of ELVN-001 in CML in 2026, along with efforts to advance existing early pipeline assets into the clinic.

Note: one aggregator profile describes Enliven as a company using an "Induced Proximity" targeted protein degradation platform [5]; this conflicts with the company's own descriptions of a small molecule kinase inhibitor pipeline in its press releases [1][2][3] and is not corroborated elsewhere.

Founding story

Sam Kintz, MBA, is identified as a co-founder and served as Chief Executive Officer until December 2025, when he became Head of Pipeline; he describes starting his career as a medicinal chemist. Other founding details are not stated in the sources.

Business model

Enliven operates as a research and development-stage drug developer, funding discovery and clinical development of proprietary small molecule oncology candidates through equity capital raised in private financings and, since listing on Nasdaq, public offerings and PIPE transactions. No product revenue is described in the sources; the company reported quarterly losses per share and analysts project negative EPS for the current fiscal year.

Traction

Two assets have advanced into clinical development (ELVN-001 and ELVN-002), with a pivotal Phase 3 trial of ELVN-001 planned for 2026. The company has raised progressively larger financings: an $85 million Series B closed in December 2020 (bringing total capital raised to over $140 million at that time), a $90 million PIPE in March 2024, a public offering closed in June 2025, and an upsized public offering with approximately $400 million in gross proceeds expected to close in June 2026.

Latest developments

In December 2025 Enliven named Rick Fair, previously President and CEO of Bellicum Pharmaceuticals and a former Roche/Genentech and Johnson & Johnson executive, as Chief Executive Officer, with co-founder Sam Kintz becoming Head of Pipeline, ahead of a planned 2026 pivotal Phase 3 trial of ELVN-001 in CML. In its 2026 proxy, the company asked stockholders to approve an increase in authorized common stock from 100 million to 200 million shares, to elect two Class III directors, to ratify Deloitte as auditor, and to hold advisory say-on-pay votes at a virtual annual meeting on June 9, 2026; board size was to be reduced from eight to seven directors. In June 2026 the company priced an upsized public offering of common stock and pre-funded warrants for approximately $400 million in gross proceeds.