Danish manufacturer of Wegovy invests in two start-ups as part of efforts to stay ahead in major new market
Novo Nordisk has signed deals worth up to $1bn with US biotech start-ups developing treatments for obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases, as the Wegovy manufacturer seeks to stay ahead in a major new market.
The Danish drugmaker is investing in two biotech companies founded by Flagship Pioneering, the Massachusetts-based life sciences incubator that founded Covid-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna.
Each of the two will receive up to $532mn upfront and if certain milestones are hit. Novo Nordisk will also pay royalties on developed products and have the right to advance potential treatments through clinical trials.
The popularity of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes treatment Ozempic and weight-loss drug Wegovy has made it Europe’s most valuable company and placed it at the forefront of a new market. Barclays forecasts that sales of Wegovy will reach $7.3bn this year, while Ozempic sales are expected to be worth $16.5bn in 2024.
The deals come as investor interest in weight-loss drugs grows and pharma groups seek new treatments.
Novo Nordisk’s competitors want to win a share of the market for diabetes and weight-loss drugs, which is forecast by Canadian investment bank BMO to grow to as much as $130bn to $140bn in annual sales.
Both Novo Nordisk and the world’s largest drugmaker Eli Lilly committed to spend up to $3.5bn on companies developing obesity medication in 2023, according to figures from data provider Dealogic.
Last month, Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche agreed an up to $3.1bn takeover of obesity drug developer Carmot Therapeutics.
Under the latest deals, Novo Nordisk will reimburse research and development costs for Omega Therapeutics, a developer of messenger RNA treatments, which is trying to develop weight-loss drugs that work by altering genetic code to increase metabolic activity in a targeted way, rather than by restricting the appetite, a traditional focus of many weight-loss treatments.
Eli Lilly is also researching how to tackle obesity by speeding up metabolic activity, spending up to $494mn on a US start-up that studies how a US squirrel species called the thirteen-lined ground squirrel gains and loses weight during hibernation.
Novo Nordisk is also backing Cellarity, which is using artificial intelligence to develop treatments for MASH, a chronic liver disease that increases the risk of developing type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease and is estimated to affect up to 6.5 per cent of US adults.
The deals are the first signed under a collaboration between Novo Nordisk and Flagship Pioneering in May 2022.
“We look forward to advancing these research programmes with Omega and Cellarity . . . as we explore bold new treatment strategies with the potential to make a significant impact for people living with obesity or MASH,” said Marcus Schindler, executive vice-president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk.
“By bringing these innovative platforms together with Novo Nordisk’s deep expertise in cardiometabolic disease we have incredible potential to make a bigger leap forward for patients,” said Paul Biondi, executive partner of Flagship Pioneering.
Fonte: FT