Deep Apple Therapeutics, announced a research collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover, develop and commercialize oral small molecule therapies targeting a novel non-incretin GPCR target for cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity.
Under the terms of the agreement, Deep Apple will discover and optimize compounds using its proprietary drug discovery platform, which combines machine learning-driven virtual screening with cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM)-enabled structural biology to dramatically improve the speed, quality, and novelty of lead generation and optimization.
Novo Nordisk will receive exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the resulting compounds and products in all indications. The two companies will collaborate on the research plan, and the transfer of the program to Novo Nordisk will occur immediately prior to the initiation of IND-enabling studies.
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Deep Apple may receive an upfront payment, research costs, and milestone payments from Novo Nordisk. In total, Deep Apple is eligible to receive up to $812 million in payments, plus potential royalties from sales of any products resulting from the collaboration.
“Novo Nordisk is a global leader with a long history of delivering transformative treatments for cardiometabolic diseases, and the Deep Apple team is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with them,” said Spiros Liras, Ph.D., CEO of Deep Apple and Venture Capital Partner at Apple Tree Partners (ATP). “This program highlights our platform’s ability to identify powerful new leads in a matter of months, and collaborating with Novo Nordisk will allow us to advance a pioneering incretin-free program for cardiometabolic diseases.”
“Novo Nordisk is developing a portfolio of oral medicine candidates for cardiometabolic diseases across diverse modalities and therapeutic targets, as we know that people living with these diseases have different needs and preferences,” said Jacob Sten Petersen , Senior Vice President, Diabetes, Obesity and MASH Therapeutic Area, Novo Nordisk. “We look forward to further exploring this novel therapeutic target based on Deep Apple’s AI-based platform and our expertise in small molecule drug discovery.”
SOURCE: PRNewswire