Novo Nordisk Commits Over $600 Million to Develop Next-Generation GLP-1 Therapies for Obesity with Metaphore Biotechnologies

Recently, Novo Nordisk signed a research collaboration agreement with biotechnology company Metaphore Biotechnologies to develop two next-generation GLP-1 receptor agonists for the treatment of obesity.

According to the terms of the deal, Novo Nordisk will pay up to $600 million (RMB 4.335 billion) in upfront, development, and commercial milestone payments. Metaphore Biotechnologies will be eligible to receive tiered royalties based on the annual sales of products approved under the collaboration. Additionally, Novo Nordisk has agreed to participate in a future round of financing for Metaphore. In return, Novo Nordisk will gain access to Metaphore’s proprietary MIMIC technology platform, and Metaphore will assist Novo Nordisk in discovering up to two drugs targeting the GLP-1 receptor to create a new combination matrix of weight-loss medications with longer-lasting effects.

Following partnerships with biotech companies Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity, Novo Nordisk has made another move to expand its weight-loss drug pipeline and solidify its position in the metabolic disease field.

Metaphore Biotechnologies, incubated by Flagship, was founded in 2021 and received $50 million in financing in May 2023.Metaphore Biotechnologies focuses on bionics, designing drugs by simulating the interactions between "bioactive" molecules found in nature, and developing treatments for autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, and cancer.

To advance drug discovery, Metaphore Biotechnologies has developed the MIMIC technology platform. This platform can simulate interactions between molecules with extremely high precision by capturing the natural dynamics of molecules at interface points. MIMIC integrates large-scale parallel assays and machine learning to systematically deconvolute pharmacophores for designing novel mimetic compounds, whose functionality, specificity, selectivity, and multi-targeting properties can all be ideally programmed.

According to the introduction, the MIMIC platform will support the development of next-generation GLP-1 candidate drugs by creating high-resolution maps of "pharmacophores" or molecular essential features that initiate specific cascades. MIMIC will use these pharmacophores as the basis for novel candidate therapeutic drugs, whose properties can be fine-tuned through machine learning. For example, according to Metaphore, compounds designed by MIMIC may exhibit better specificity and selectivity for their targets, or possess multiple affinities, longer half-lives, and similar functionalities.

Metaphore Biotechnologies CEO Lovisa Afzelius said in an interview, "This deal not only validates the company's MIMIC platform but also helps the company grow by collaborating with those truly powerful companies in drug development."

Uli Stilz, head of Novo Nordisk's Bio Innovation Center, said that Metaphore Biotechnologies' unique technology would help Novo Nordisk design and develop the next generation of weight loss therapies.

In the 2023 annual report, Novo Nordisk mentioned that besides the diabetes and obesity fields, it is also actively expanding its pipeline in the cardiovascular field.

In order to further implement its strategic layout in the field of cardiometabolic diseases, Novo Nordisk has carried out a series of pipeline transactions and acquisitions.

In March 2024, Novo Nordisk invested $1.025 billion to acquire Cardior, a biotechnology company specializing in RNA therapy research. Cardior owns CDR132L, a nucleic acid drug for treating heart failure, which provides strong support for Novo Nordisk's strategic expansion into cardiovascular diseases.

In the field of obesity, Novo Nordisk has intensified its efforts, completing multiple pipeline and acquisition deals in the past two years.In August 2023, Novo Nordisk acquired Inversago Pharma, a pharmaceutical company specializing in metabolic disorders, for $1.1 billion. In the same month, it also acquired Embark Biotech for $16 million, adding research on two protein-related weight loss drugs, FFAR4 and GPR3. In 2024, Novo Nordisk reached another obesity drug deal by signing a $256 million collaboration agreement with EraCal Therapeutics, granting Novo Nordisk exclusive rights to develop and commercialize EraCal’s oral small-molecule weight loss drug program. These transactions will further expand Novo Nordisk's product pipeline and strengthen its leading position in the weight loss drug market.

Novo Nordisk, which has never been known for acquisitions, is still exploring potential new drugs in the cardiometabolic disease field through various channels, with the most notable collaboration being with Flagship.

In May 2022, Flagship Pioneering and Novo Nordisk announced a collaboration to create a series of novel research projects for drug development.Development and TransformationThe two companies will explore the application of Flagship's innovative bio-platform to address scientific challenges in the cardiometabolic and rare disease fields and launch relevant research projects.

Novo Nordisk will provide funding for the research projects to be initiated and hold exclusive licensing options for each project, with the goal of launching three to five research projects within the first three years of collaboration. This novel approach to partnership offers companies extensive opportunities for innovation, enabling them to leverage the technological platforms of multiple biotechnology firms to create a drug portfolio spanning various disease areas.

It is this collaborative approach that has facilitated multiple deals for Novo Nordisk. In January 2024, Novo Nordisk entered into agreements with Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity, both of which were incubated by Flagship. In the collaboration with Omega, Novo Nordisk will leverage its proprietary platform technology to develop epigenomic controllers aimed at enhancing metabolic activity and developing potential new treatments for obesity management. The partnership with Cellarity focuses on uncovering new biological drivers of MASH, with Novo Nordisk utilizing Cellarity’s platform to develop small-molecule therapies targeting this disease.

The enormous commercial success of semaglutide has sparked a wave of research and development in weight-loss drugs. However, to challenge the dominant positions of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, further innovation from newcomers is still required.

In fact, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have set very high standards for Wegovy and Zepbound, to the extent that some in the industry describe these drugs as potential competitors' "stakes." Competitors need to demonstrate advantages in efficacy, safety, or convenience to stand a chance against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.

Currently, GLP-1 drugs used for weight loss are administered via subcutaneous injection.Oral medications with similar efficacy may be very appealing to those who do not want injections.However, peptide drugs like GLP-1, due to their larger molecular weight, are easily broken down by enzymes and absorbed slowly, thus the development of oral weight-loss medications still faces many challenges.

There are still many competitors.Develop new drugs targeting the known side effects of medications.GLP-1 is commonly associated with gastrointestinal issues such as nausea and vomiting. Based on animal and biomarker data, there are also concerns that it may be linked to certain types of cancer. This could make the weight loss stimulation mechanisms proposed in other studies more appealing.

At the same time, companies hoping to make progress based on Wegovy and Zepbound may also try.Improve the ease with which existing GLP-1 is absorbed and utilized by the human body.Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are currently struggling to produce enough drugs, while formulations that are more easily absorbed by the human body could reduce dosage requirements, thereby alleviating production shortages.

Some drug developers are also researching how to maintain weight and muscle after becoming lean.The rapid weight loss caused by GLP-1 can lead to an unnecessary reduction in muscle tissue. For instance, in a sub-study of a major trial approved by the FDA, patients taking Zepbound experienced an 11% decrease in muscle mass. This loss of muscle mass is particularly concerning for the elderly, as their diminished strength may exacerbate physical frailty. If individuals regain weight after significant weight loss, the subsequent increase tends to be disproportionately fat. Therefore, if new weight-loss drugs can preserve muscle mass, they will offer a new pharmaceutical option for people with obesity.

Currently, Novo Nordisk is also expanding its weight-loss drug pipeline from various dimensions such as drug mechanisms and optimizing efficacy to consolidate its leading position. With the entry of many multinational corporations (MNCs) like Roche, Pfizer, and Boehringer Ingelheim, it remains to be seen who will break the current competitive landscape in the weight-loss drug market.