Millennium Management, Point72 Join Armistice Capital in Building Pharmaceutical Sector Positions
A fresh wave of regulatory filings from the first half of 2025 shows three prominent hedge funds—Millennium Management, Point72 Asset Management, and Armistice Capital—adding or solidifying stakes across select drug developers. The moves span RNAi therapies, rare-disease nephrology, and specialty pharma, suggesting renewed institutional interest in targeted parts of healthcare despite mixed headlines and a tougher funding backdrop for smaller biotechs.
Point72 put fresh capital to work in high-profile biopharma
Point72’s March-quarter 13F revealed a new position in Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ALNY), an initiation of 5,300,635 shares during Q1 2025, according to Holdings Channel’s holdings-changes summary. The fund also made meaningful increases in other health names (e.g., Insulet) and a larger bet on Sarepta via options, underscoring a broadened healthcare tilt.
There was a clear catalyst calendar for Alnylam in the quarter. In March 2025, the FDA approved AMVUTTRA (vutrisiran) for ATTR cardiomyopathy, expanding the drug’s label into a larger patient population. Alnylam highlighted cardiovascular benefits and detailed supporting data days later at the 2025 American College of Cardiology (ACC) conference. Alnylam shares also outperformed on a one-year look-back into mid-August 2025, a backdrop funds often use to scale positions.
Millennium’s filings show both new 5% positions and stepped-up small-cap bets
Millennium’s activity spans liquid large caps and higher-beta small caps. The firm filed a Schedule 13G in Vanda Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: VNDA) on July 1, 2025, disclosing 3,120,339 shares (≈5.3%) beneficially owned as of June 27, 2025.
Beyond VNDA, Millennium increased its holding in Trevi Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TRVI) by ~356% in Q1 2025—to 823,249 shares from 180,419 the prior quarter—based on 13F deltas compiled by Fintel. Millennium also scaled its position in Bright Minds Biosciences (NASDAQ: DRUG) by ~377% in the same period, per the fund’s Q1 2025 13F.
The TRVI add lines up with a catalyst stack around FILSPARI (sparsentan): a standard EU approval for IgA nephropathy in April and positive UK NICE guidance drafts in May. Travere has also flagged final publication of updated KDIGO IgAN guidelines in 2025, which—if in line with prior drafts—could reinforce earlier proteinuria targets and underpin product adoption.
Armistice continued to build in rare-disease nephrology and specialty pharma
Specialist investor Armistice Capital has been active across rare-disease names. A Schedule 13G/A filed April 28, 2025 showed 8,872,000 shares of Travere Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TVTX), a continuation of a multi-quarter build. Quarter-to-quarter 13F comparisons also indicate +1.51 million TVTX shares in Q1 2025 vs. Q4 2024 for Armistice.
Travere’s story had tailwinds into mid-2025: the firm achieved further visibility in KDIGO clinical guidelines, which can significantly affect uptake, coverage decisions, adoption by nephrologists, and payer willingness. The company emphasized that draft guidelines from August 2024 already recommended its FILSPARI as a foundational kidney-targeted therapy and lowered targeted proteinuria levels (less than 0.5 g/day or ideally below 0.3 g/day)
Shares have also rebounded sharply year-over-year amid more regulatory clarity.
Armistice’s book remains heavy in therapeutics, with PTC Therapeutics (NASDAQ: PTCT) and Supernus (NASDAQ: SUPN) among other notable positions.
Why the sector is drawing generalist capital now
The 2025 pharma investment outlook combines product-cycle winners (e.g., GLP-1 franchises and selective cardiometabolic/rare-disease therapies), pipeline milestones, and a renewed M&A drumbeat as large pharma contends with looming loss-of-exclusivity cliffs. Analysis from late 2024 highlighted how companies like BMS, Merck and Amgen face outsized loss of exclusivity (LOE) exposure, implying they “must pursue M&A.” That backdrop can support deal premia in sub-$10B biotech, a pocket where Armistice has long trafficked and where Millennium and Point72 run active playbooks.
Bottom line: by mid-2025, Point72, Millennium and Armistice each added to selective drug developers, but with different styles: Point72 initiated a sizable position in Alnylam post-approval; Millennium combined a new 5% disclosure in Vanda with outsized increases in Trevi and Bright Minds; Armistice kept leaning into Travere and other specialty names. The mix of label expansions, guideline shifts and a supportive M&A environment helps explain why generalist capital is pressing into healthcare alongside a specialist like Armistice.