Orbis Medicines Enters Multi-Target Drug Discovery Partnership with Novo Nordisk Worth up to USD 1.4 Billion

Orbis Medicines has entered into a multi-target drug discovery partnership with Novo Nordisk in a deal worth up to 1.4 billion United States dollars. In related company updates, Orbis Medicines has also raised 90 million euros in a Series A funding round to develop its pipeline of oral macrocycles and has appointed veteran research and development leader Mikael Dolsten as board chair.

The collaboration utilizes Orbis Medicines' proprietary nGen technology platform, which is a lab-in-the-loop system combining generative artificial intelligence with high-throughput synthesis capabilities. This platform also incorporates the Gefion supercomputer to enhance its artificial intelligence capabilities. The system features a multi-parameter optimization engine that designs a new class of fully synthetic macrocycle compounds called nCycles.

The nGen platform allows Orbis Medicines to design, synthesize, and analyze thousands of distinct synthetic macrocycles within weeks. This process generates one of the industry's largest experimental macrocycle datasets in real time, which continuously improves the artificial intelligence models. These technological developments specifically aim to overcome longstanding challenges related to oral bioavailability and membrane permeability in drug discovery.