Novo to work with Septerna in hunt for oral obesity drugs

Dive Brief:

• Novo Nordisk on Wednesday said it will collaborate with biotechnology startup Septerna to hunt new obesity drug prospects, agreeing to pay the California drugmaker more than $200 million in upfront and near-term fees.
• Septerna and Novo will initially prioritize four experimental programs aimed at drug targets like GLP-1, GIP or glucagon receptors. The companies will use Septerna’s technology for crafting drugs that can work on so-called G protein-coupled receptors, or GPCRs.
• The deal is the latest step in Novo’s efforts to develop a pill that can complement or replace its blockbuster injectable medicine Wegovy for treating obesity. The company recently submitted an oral version of semaglutide — Wegovy’s main ingredient — for U.S. approval.

Dive Insight:

Novo is racing against rival Eli Lilly to develop and market an oral obesity pill. In April, Lilly read out promising data from a Phase 3 trial of its treatment orforglipron in a study of people with diabetes.

Establishing a convenient alternative to injectable therapies could be a lucrative opportunity in a market investors and analysts expect to exceed $100 billion in annual sales by next decade.

By turning to Septerna, a clinical-stage company testing a drug in hypoparathyroidism, Novo is focusing on GPCRs, a family of proteins that’s targeted by a large proportion of approved medicines. GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors are GPCRs.

“Septerna has demonstrated strong capabilities in GPCR drug discovery, and we are excited about the opportunity to develop oral small molecule medicines directed at multiple targets,” Novo’s Chief Scientific Officer Marcus Schindler said in a statement.

Both companies will collaborate on R&D from program discovery stages through to candidate selection. Novo will take over development for preclinical testing ahead of an application to trial a new drug. Septerna could receive as much as $2.2 billion in additional payments from Novo if it hits certain R&D and commercial milestones.

Under the agreement, Septerna also has the right to opt into global profit-sharing for one of the drugs in place of future milestone and royalty payments for that program.

Novo will cover all development costs for the experimental medicines.

The deal is the latest research collaboration Novo has struck to gain follow-up prospects to semaglutide. Among its investments are a “triple agonist” shot from a Chinese drugmaker and a long-acting GLP-1 shot it’s advancing with Ascendis Pharma.

While semaglutide continues to bring in billions of dollars for Novo, the drugmaker recently had to cut sales forecasts as competition from compounded versions hurt its growth.

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