The companies originally partnered in September 2023 in an agreement that allowed for the development of up to 11 drug programmes, primarily focused on cardiovascular disease, through which Valo was eligible to receive up to USD 2.7 billion in milestone payments, plus R&D funding and potential royalty payments.

The agreement

Under the terms of the expanded agreement, Valo is entitled to receive an upfront payment, equity investment, and a potential near-term milestone payment, totaling USD 190 million, and is now eligible to receive milestone payments for up to 20 drug programmes, an addition of 9 new drug programmes, totaling approximately USD 4.6 billion, plus R&D funding and potential royalty payments.

The expanded collaboration will continue to leverage the capabilities of Valo’s Opal Computational Platform, as well as key joint capabilities in human data and genetics with Novo Nordisk’s expertise in cardiometabolic diseases.

“We are very pleased with the progress we have made together with Valo during the first year of our collaboration, and we are excited to expand the scope to put a stronger focus on obesity and type 2 diabetes in addition to cardiovascular disease,” says Marcus Schindler, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk. “We have already begun to realize the potential of combining the capabilities of Valo and Novo Nordisk to advance multiple AI-powered, human-centric programmes, and we believe this partnership will help Novo Nordisk fulfil our ambition to expand the number of new drug programmes we bring to the clinic.”

The identification of several novel targets

The collaboration has already led to the identification of several novel targets that may form the basis of differentiated cardiometabolic drug programmes, and the companies are actively working on multiple small molecule preclinical drug discovery programmes.

The entire drug discovery continuum

The expanded collaboration allows for a deeper partnership between the two companies, with activities that span the entire drug discovery continuum. Novo Nordisk and Valo plan to continue working closely together to derive novel insights from human genetic and longitudinal patient data at the intersection of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.