Novo Nordisk has struck up a new—and unconventional—partnership with Flagship Pioneering, aiming to quickly create a portfolio of breakthrough medicines for cardiometabolic and rare diseases by leveraging Novo’s disease expertise and the technology from Flagship’s bioplatform companies.
Flagship Pioneering, a life sciences venture capital company with more than 100 scientific ventures under its belt since launching in 2000, currently boasts a bioplatform portfolio of 41 companies, including Moderna, Foghorn Therapeutics, Axcella Therapeutics and Sana Biotechnology.
Within the first three years of their collaboration, Flagship and Novo hope to have generated three to five research programs. The Danish drugmaker will prioritize unresolved conceptual disease issues, while most of the experimentation and research will be delivered by Pioneering Medicine—a Flagship initiative that develops treatments by leveraging and expanding Flagship innovations—and the Flagship Pioneering portfolio companies.
“The vision is that this joint effort will lead to achievements that neither company could have achieved on its own, and the structure could eventually pave the way for multiple licensing deals, rather than traditional, sequential business development transactions,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson told Fierce Biotech.
Novo will provide funding for the research programs and then have an exclusive option to license each one. Specific financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
All programs will be built from the ground up and center around the objective of developing breakthrough therapies addressing unmet medical needs for patients with diseases such as obesity and diabetes, along with rare metabolic disorders, rare blood disorders and rare endocrine disorders.
“The most interesting therapeutic concepts arising from the collaboration will go into an initial pilot phase and, if successful, be turned into actual research programs,” the Novo spokesperson said, noting that it is still too early in the process to comment on clinical development timelines.
The collaboration will be anchored at Novo's Cambridge, Massachusetts Bio Innovation Hub. The cross-functional R&D team within Novo consists of about 10 people, though the global healthcare company will contribute expertise from across its vast organization for each of the selected programs.
“This is a new and innovative way of collaborating, which combines the strength of Flagship Pioneering’s bioplatforms with Novo Nordisk’s cardiometabolic and rare disease expertise,” Marcus Schindler, Ph.D., chief scientific officer of Novo, said in a May 10 release.
Both companies possess the “shared vision of creating transformational medicines in disease areas where there continue to be significant needs,” according to Paul Biondi, president of Pioneering Medicines and executive partner at Flagship Pioneering. “This strategic partnership demonstrates the unique advantages of our Pioneering Medicines model in which we bring together complementary capabilities and expertise from multiple companies to deliver life-changing medicines to patients.”