Omega Therapeutics Soars Over 100% in Pre-Market Trading Following Collaboration with Novo Nordisk to Develop Novel Epigenomic Therapies for Cardiometabolic Diseases

Intelligent Finance APP learned that Novo Nordisk (NVO.US), a Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer, announced on Thursday a research collaboration with two U.S.-based biotech companies, Omega Therapeutics (OMGA.US) and Cellarity, to discover and develop new therapies for cardiometabolic diseases. Boosted by this news, as of press time, Omega's pre-market stock price surged over 102% on Thursday in the U.S. market.

It is reported that this collaboration is the first announced partnership under the framework agreement signed between Novo Nordisk and U.S.-based investment company Flagship Pioneering in 2022. Both Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity are companies invested in by Flagship.

Novo Nordisk's collaboration with Omega Therapeutics will leverage the company’s proprietary platform technology to develop an epigenomic controller designed to enhance metabolic activity as part of a potential new treatment approach for obesity management; the partnership with Cellarity aims to uncover novel biological drivers of a liver condition known as Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis (MASH). Both companies will advance these programs through preclinical development and conduct foundational activities, after which Novo Nordisk will progress the programs into clinical studies.

Novo Nordisk will reimburse research and development expenses based on agreements reached with the two companies. In addition, each agreement includes upfront, development, and commercial milestone payments of up to $532 million, as well as tiered royalties on annual net sales of licensed products, to be shared among Omega Therapeutics, Cellarity, and Flagship Pioneering.