NVO - Novo Nordisk signs research deals on cardiometabolic diseases

2024-01-04 06:26:58 ET

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) announced on Thursday research collaborations with two U.S. biotech firms to discover and develop novel treatment approaches for cardiometabolic diseases.

The collaborations with Omega Therapeutics ( NASDAQ: OMGA ) and Cellarity are the first announced under a framework deal that Novo ( NVO ) signed in 2022 with U.S. investment firm Flagship Pioneering. Omega and Cellarity are both portfolio companies of Flagship.

The Omega ( OMGA ) collaboration will leverage the firm's proprietary platform technology to develop an epigenomic controller designed to enhance metabolic activity as a part of a potential new treatment approach for obesity management.

The collaboration with Cellarity aims to unravel novel biological drivers for a type of liver disease known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis or MASH.

In September 2022, Novo ( NVO ) engaged Cellarity to identify novel cell behaviors implicated in MASH disease progression. The research deal expands on this initial work and will further leverage Cellarity’s platform to develop a small molecule therapy.

The companies will jointly advance these respective programs through preclinical development and conduct foundational activities, after which point Novo ( NVO ) could advance the programs into clinical studies.

Novo Nordisk ( NVO ) will reimburse R&D costs pursuant to the respective agreements. Additionally, each agreement may pay up to $532M dollars in upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on annual net sales of a licensed product, to be shared between the respective companies and Flagship's drug development initiative, Pioneering Medicines.

Shares of the drugmaker were up 1.56% premarket

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