Novo Nordisk strikes $2.2 billion deal with Septerna to develop new obesity treatments

Reuters

Wed, May 14, 2025, 4:03 AM 2 min read

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk has struck a collaboration and licensing woody with U.S. biotech Septerna to make oral tiny molecule medicines for obesity, benignant 2 diabetes and different cardio-metabolic diseases that could beryllium worthy up to $2.2 cardinal for Septerna, they said connected Wednesday.

Novo, shaper of the wildly fashionable Wegovy weight-loss drug, has sought to further fortify its presumption successful the imaginable $150 cardinal obesity marketplace done the improvement of next-generation drugs, acquisitions and partnerships.

Investors person been acrophobic that Novo's first-to-market cause is losing its pb to Eli Lilly, whose U.S. prescriptions for its Zepbound obesity changeable person surpassed Wegovy since mid-March.

"Novo Nordisk has a affluent past of innovation successful obesity and diabetes," the Danish company's Chief Scientific Officer Marcus Schindler said successful a statement.

"We are gathering connected our technological enactment successful this abstraction and processing a wide pipeline crossed assorted targets and modalities, including peptides and tiny molecules," helium said.

The caller concern includes much than $200 cardinal successful upfront and near-term payments for Septerna, the companies said.

California-based Septerna is processing therapies targeting G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR), a people of proteins that service arsenic a main conduit for chemicals to get past a cell's membrane and beryllium taken up by a cell.

GPCR tin power wide physiological processes specified arsenic metabolism, secretion, compartment growth, and immune responses.

The 2 companies purpose to commence 4 improvement programmes for imaginable tiny molecule therapies directed astatine prime GPCR targets.

The collaboration is the 2nd important pharma woody successful obesity successful arsenic galore months. In March, Roche said it would wage up to $5.3 cardinal to co-develop and co-commercialise Zealand Pharma's obesity cause candidate.

Separately, U.S. regulators this period accepted Novo's submission for an oral mentation of Wegovy which, if approved, would go the archetypal oral therapy for obesity from the GLP-1 cause people to which some it and Zepbound belong.

Goldman Sachs owns a 3.3% involvement successful Septerna, portion healthcare-focused task superior steadfast Third Rock Ventures holds 23.7%, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Stine JacobsenEditing by Mark Potter)