Novo Nordisk is again turning to a Flagship Pioneering startup to find new weight loss drugs, announcing on Thursday a deal with Metaphore Biotechnologies to develop up to two medicines for obesity.
Through the partnership, Novo could pay the startup as much as $600 million in upfront and milestone payments and has committed to participate in a future financing round, Metaphore said in a statement. The biotech didn’t disclose the amount of the initial cash payment.
In return, Metaphore will help Novo discover up to two drugs aimed at the GLP-1 receptor — the target of Novo’s popular weight loss therapy Wegovy — and “related biology,” the companies said. The goal is to create “scalable” drugs with longer-lasting effects. Currently approved GLP-1 drugs for obesity, like Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, require weekly injections and are in short supply.
The alliance is the first for Metaphore, a startup Flagship launched last May and whose work involves creating imitations of “pharmacophores,” the molecular features that spark a specific biologic response. Metaphore has said its approach can unearth drugs for a variety of conditions, from immune diseases to cancer, though it hasn’t yet named a lead program or an initial disease target.
“Not only does [the deal] validate the platform, it also helps grow the company by working with those that are really strong in developing drugs,” said Lovisa Afzelius, Metaphore’s CEO, in an interview.
Uli Stilz, the head of Novo’s Bio Innovation Hub in Boston, said the startup’s technology is “uniquely able” to help the company design and develop next-generation therapies for weight loss.
The alliance is the third to emerge from a 2022 alliance between Flagship and Novo. That agreement is part of Flagship’s “Pioneering Medicines” initiative, a spin on drug creation that enables potential partners to tap into the research generated by its entire network of startups. The initiative has led to deals between Novo and Flagship startups Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity, as well as broader collaborations with Pfizer and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
In teaming up with Metaphore, meanwhile, Novo extends a deal streak in cardiometabolic research. Novo has recently acquired biotechs like Cardior, Inversago Pharma and Embark Biotech as well as struck collaborations with startups and academic institutions.
In an interview with BioPharma Dive last October, Stilz said the company is trying to advance more cardiometabolic disease research, citing a MassBio report showing heart drugs account for just 2% of the combined drug pipelines of Massachusetts-based biotech companies.
“The ecosystem is evolving,” Stilz said this week. “We want to be participants with a long view.”
