The collaboration could expand to 'the entire drug discovery continuum', the two companies say.
Novo Nordisk and Boston-based Valo Health, Inc. this week announced the launch of a collaboration that taps Valo's artificial intelligence-powered platform to develop new drugs treating cardiometabolic diseases.
Using a $60 million upfront and near-term milestone payment, the collaborative could generate as much as $2.7 billion for Valo across 11 programs, along with R&D funding, and potential royalty payments.
Novo Nordisk already licenses three preclinical drug discovery programs in cardiovascular diseases discovered and developed by Valo using its AI-powered Opal Computational Platform. The platform provides access to real-world patient data, AI-enabled small molecule discovery, and a human tissue modelling platform that accelerates development.
"Artificial Intelligence and machine learning hold the promise to positively impact drug discovery and development, in particular enabling our vision of leveraging human datasets early in the process, which should lead to a better understanding of target biology," says Marcus Schindler, chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk.
"Valo brings a differentiated and powerful approach to using these technologies on real-world human data to generate new insights and translate them into potential therapeutics for the benefit of patients suffering from cardiometabolic conditions," he says.
The collaboration could expand to "the entire drug discovery continuum", the two companies say, with Novo Nordisk and Valo partnering to tap human genetic and longitudinal patient data in cardiovascular disease.
"Partnering with Novo Nordisk… creates a unique opportunity to continue to deploy our Opal Computational Platform at scale in the discovery and development of novel cardiometabolic therapeutics," says Valo CEO / Founder David Berry.
"We are excited to implement the full spectrum of our platform spanning from disease characterization through clinical development as we aim to deliver new therapeutics to benefit patients living with some of the most prevalent chronic diseases of our time."
“Artificial Intelligence and machine learning hold the promise to positively impact drug discovery and development.”
Marcus Schindler, chief scientific officer, Novo Nordisk.
John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Using a $60 million upfront and near-term milestone payment, the collaborative could generate as much as $2.7 billion for Valo across 11 programs, along with R&D funding, and potential royalty payments.
Novo Nordisk already licenses three preclinical drug discovery programs in cardiovascular diseases discovered and developed by Valo using its AI-powered Opal Computational Platform.
The platform provides access to real-world patient data, AI-enabled small molecule discovery, and a human tissue modelling platform that accelerates development.