Since 2023, Aspect and Novo Nordisk have collaborated to develop cellular medicines designed to replace, repair or supplement biological functions to deliver truly disease-modifying therapies. This new phase of the partnership builds on the momentum achieved in the existing collaboration. It reflects a shared mission to accelerate the development of potentially curative medicines for serious diseases, the companies state.

Aspect has acquired rights to stem cell-derived islet cell and hypoimmune cell engineering technologies from Novo Nordisk and will lead development, manufacturing and commercialisation. Novo Nordisk will have defined rights to expand its role in later-stage development and commercialisation.

Novo Nordisk will make an additional equity investment in Aspect and provide research funding to advance these potentially curative therapies. Novo Nordisk will be eligible to receive royalties and milestone payments on future product sales from Aspect.

The agreement between the two companies involves integrating select Novo Nordisk cell therapy research, development, and manufacturing capabilities and expertise from the United States and Denmark into Aspect’s Canada-anchored platform. This integration will strengthen Aspect’s end-to-end capabilities and expand access to highly skilled talent.

Aspect’s platform is being applied to develop a new class of cellular medicines and functional cures for serious metabolic and endocrine diseases, including an islet replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes designed to restore blood glucose control without the need for chronic immune suppression. These cellular medicines are designed to be allogeneic, enabling scalable manufacturing using off-the-shelf cells.