Currently trailing Eli Lilly and Structure Therapeutics in the oral weight loss space, Novo Nordisk strikes a deal with Septerna to put new discovery-stage programs into play.
Novo Nordisk is looking to stay on top of the obesity drug market as competitors race ahead, striking a deal with Septerna to co-develop small molecule oral obesity drugs. Novo is fronting $200 million off the bat and up to $2.2 billion in R&D and milestone payments.
The two companies will come together to create small molecule drugs for obesity, type II diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases aimed at G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs), including GLP-1, GIP and glucagon, according to a Wednesday release announcing the licensing deal.
“Collaboration is likely too early to make meaningful impact in the near term, but diversification with small molecules is a positive” for Novo, BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote in a morning note to investors.
Novo is looking to step up in the oral weight loss space after losing ground to rival Eli Lilly, whose orfoglipron recently showed “injectable-like efficacy” in a Phase III trial. Structure Therapeutics’ oral GLP-1aleniglipron is also in the running, with a Phase II readout expected later this year.
Novo’s oral obesity drug, meanwhile, is in earlier stages. Last fall, the company announced that amycretin achieved 13% weight loss in a Phase I trial.
“That said,” BMO wrote, “we appreciate Novo’s decision to expand in oral small molecule agents, as its portfolio has largely leveraged oral peptides to date.”
Septerna is fresh off a $331.2 million IPO in October 2024, and the partnership adds to that windfall. The biotech launched in 2022 on the back of a $100 million series A funding, co-founded by Robert Lefkowitz, a Duke University biochemist who won the 2012 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on GPCRs.
In addition to its focus on metabolic disorders, Septerna has a pipeline of GPCR-targeting small molecules for hypoparathyroidism, Graves’ disease and the autoimmune disorder chronic spontaneous urticaria. The company’s obesity and type II diabetes program is in discovery.
“This collaboration provides a significant opportunity to create multiple potentially groundbreaking oral medicines, while also providing Septerna with the operational flexibility and resources to advance our diverse portfolio of other GPCR-targeted programmes,” said Septerna CEO Jeffrey Finer in a statement announcing the Novo deal, which is set to close in the second quarter of 2025.
When it comes to IND-enabling activities, Novo will take responsibility for all global development and commercialization, while Septerna will retain the right to opt into a profit share for one of the product candidates coming out of the collaboration and forgo milestone and royalty payments for that one drug.
