Gensaic secures $354 million per target deal with Novo Nordisk

Privately-held Cambridge, USA-based biotech Gensaic announced a potentially lucrative license and discovery collaboration with Denmark’s Novo Nordisk (NOV: N).

This collaboration unites Novo Nordisk’s deep therapeutic knowledge and drug development experience with Gensaic’s novel protein design technology with the aim to discover tissue targeting ligands and develop new therapeutic candidates to treat cardiometabolic disease via undisclosed targets, according to the US firm.

As a result, Gensaic is eligible to receive up to $354 million in upfront payments, development, and commercial milestones per target plus tiered royalties. Novo Nordisk also will reimburse R&D costs, participate in a future financing round, and a Novo Nordisk executive will join Gensaic’s board as a non-voting observing member. In this collaboration, Gensaic will discover novel protein ligands, with Novo Nordisk retaining rights to leverage these for further development. The collaboration includes Novo Nordisk’s license and option right to advance multiple therapeutic programs through research, development, and commercialization.