NEW YORK, Dec. 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aradigm, a benefits platform for cell and gene therapies, launched from stealth today to make life-saving medicines affordable and accessible at a national scale. The company is debuting with a $20 million Series A funding round led by Frist Cressey Ventures, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Morgan Health, a division of JPMorganChase focused on employer-sponsored health care. This milestone follows Aradigm’s $5 million seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz in 2024.
Cell and gene therapies (CGTs) have the potential to treat once-untreatable diseases, but some therapies exceed $3 million per treatment, and costs vary up to 200 percent between payers. A public benefit corporation, Aradigm aims to create affordable, sustainable access to CGTs by improving predictability for both payers and health care providers and to bring together all stakeholders in the cell and gene therapy ecosystem — payers, employers, providers, manufacturers, and, most importantly, patients — in a unique financial and delivery model.
“Cell and gene therapies have extraordinary potential to transform lives, but the fragmented way we pay for and deliver care in the U.S. threatens access to them,” said Dr. William Shrank, CEO and Co-Founder of Aradigm, an internal medicine physician and former researcher at Harvard Medical School whose career has included leadership positions in the federal government and at large health plans. “What we have built is a new kind of payment and delivery model that breaks down barriers to these life-saving therapies.”
Aradigm’s platform applies a cost-plus, transparent pricing model to manage high-cost CGTs. By pooling risk, standardizing reimbursement, and passing any unused premium savings back to the employer or payer, Aradigm aligns incentives among payers, employers, providers, and manufacturers to deliver sustainable and equitable access. This approach provides a scalable alternative to traditional carve-outs and stop-loss products, addressing a critical gap in today’s CGT financing landscape. Moreover, Aradigm connects patients with appropriate, high-quality care and provides them with concierge support along the way.
“At Frist Cressey Ventures, we invest in companies that transform patient lives, and that means we always begin with the patient,” said Senator Bill Frist, co-founder and Managing Partner at Frist Cressey Ventures. “As a heart and lung transplant surgeon, I’ve seen firsthand the persistent challenge of ensuring life-changing therapies reach patients in a financially sustainable way. We’re proud to support Aradigm’s mission and market-leading model to fill that critical gap in care.”
Developed with the support of 15 of the nation’s largest employers and six payers, Aradigm marries financial and clinical innovation with a technology platform to support:
- Patients: Aradigm facilitates personalized care coordination that helps patients navigate a complex and confusing treatment ecosystem.
- Self-insured employers and payers: Aradigm promotes affordability for high-cost therapies by pooling and capping risk, and uses a cost-plus model that passes through savings.
- Providers and health systems: Aradigm enables sustainable delivery of therapies by employing upfront predictable reimbursement models that support adoption and delivery of CGTs.
- Manufacturers: Aradigm enhances appropriate use of therapies by applying scalable infrastructure that ensures appropriate patient access and real-world value demonstration.
“Cell and gene therapies represent a new frontier in medical treatment, but also pose an existential cost challenge for American healthcare. Businesses want to make sure their employees are covered at a reasonable cost,” said Dan Mendelson, CEO of Morgan Health. “Aradigm addresses these challenges by ensuring that innovative therapies are being administered effectively and efficiently — and by helping make insurance for these low-volume products work better for American employers.”
“In cell and gene therapy, clinical innovation has far outpaced the financial innovation needed to pay for it,” said Jay Rughani, Investing Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. "We backed Aradigm at inception at a16z because we believed this gap would become one of the defining challenges between the fields of bio and health — and that this team was uniquely positioned to solve it. We’re proud to continue our partnership as they build the backbone that ensures these therapies are broadly accessible to patients.”
Aradigm is going live with its first customers in April 2026. The Series A financing will accelerate Aradigm Health’s platform development and expand partnerships with health systems and payers.
“Cell and gene therapies can save lives, but far too many families still struggle to access the treatments they desperately need,” said George Eastwood, Executive Director of the Emily Whitehead Foundation. “Aradigm’s approach addresses one of the biggest barriers patients face today: a system that wasn’t built for cures. We’re encouraged to see innovative partners stepping forward to make these therapies more equitable and available to the people who need them most.”
About Aradigm Health
Aradigm is a benefits platform for cell and gene therapies (CGT) designed to provide sustainable access to life-saving medicines. Aradigm’s novel financial and delivery model addresses the challenges facing every stakeholder — payers, providers, manufacturers, and, most importantly, patients. By creating a large-scale risk pool to cover and pay for all CGT drugs and care, with unspent funds returned, Aradigm can deliver cost predictability for employers and health plans. Aradigm’s end-to-end experience includes a national network of "centers of excellence” and concierge patient support, giving providers volume and rate certainty and patients appropriate, high-quality treatment and outcomes. A public benefit corporation, Aradigm is backed by Frist Cressey, Morgan Health, and Andreessen Horowitz. Learn more at www.aradigmhealth.com.
Media Contact
Courtney Lamie
Aradigm Health
aradigm@crosscutstrategies.com
