Novo Nordisk has signed off on a $285 million biobucks deal with fellow Denmark-based company Ascendis Pharma to help the Wegovy manufacturer develop a once-monthly GLP-1 receptor agonist.
The multi-pronged partnership centers around Novo securing the license to use Ascendis’ TransCon platform to develop candidates in metabolic diseases, including Novo’s home turf of obesity and diabetes. The lead program will be a once-monthly GLP-1 receptor agonist candidate that is initially focused on both of these areas.
Novo has become a household name thanks to semaglutide, the once-weekly GLP-1 agonist that is marketed as Ozempic and Wegovy for diabetes and obesity, respectively. The Danish Big Pharma had been working on a once-monthly GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist, but axed the program in August due to an unimpressive clinical profile seen in phase 1 testing.
The company clearly sees potential in monthly dosing, with Novo’s Chief Scientific Officer Marcus Schindler, Ph.D., telling investors in March that “infrequent dosing, in particular in diabetes, but also obesity, are big topics for us.”
Brian Vandahl, SVP of global research technologies at the Big Pharma, echoed this sentiment in his comments accompanying this morning’s press release.
“Developing potential therapies that can be administered less frequently could benefit societies as well as individual patients, and it is a clear focus area for Novo Nordisk,” Vandahl said. “We look forward to working with Ascendis to explore the potential of the TransCon technology platform to reduce the dosing frequency of GLP-1 receptor agonists and other treatments for cardiometabolic diseases.”
The TransCon tech is named after “transient conjugation,” which Ascendis describes as the company’s “unique ability to temporarily (transiently) link an inert carrier to a parent drug with known biology.” The wide-ranging tech can help ensure drugs either act systemically throughout the body or locally.
In return for granting Novo the license to use the platform for the lead GLP-1 program, Ascendis is in line for up to $285 million in combined upfront, development and regulatory milestone payments, plus potential tiered royalties.
The biotech could be in line for further cash if Novo chooses to expand the agreement to cover other metabolic or cardiovascular disease candidates, with milestone payments totaling $77.5 million attached to each one.
While Ascendis will oversee early development of TransCon products under the collaboration, Novo will front the initial costs and beyond.
Ascendis has already seen regulatory success for its TransCon tech via the approved hormone replacement therapy Yorvipath and the approved long-acting growth hormone Skytrofa.
The biotech’s CEO Jan Mikkelsen said today’s agreement “reflects our Vision 2030 to create value in additional large therapeutic areas outside endocrinology rare disease through collaborations with established global leaders.”