Neomorph yesterday announced a collaboration and licensing agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover, develop, and commercialize molecular glue degraders. Molecular glue degraders have emerged lately as a very hot field to reach “undruggable” targets through protein degradation.
“By combining Neomorph’s proprietary glue discovery platform with Novo Nordisk’s vast experience in cardiometabolic and rare diseases, we are well positioned to develop transformative treatments in these areas. This collaboration will enable the expansion of our platform into new therapeutic areas, complementing our ongoing efforts in oncology,” Phil Chamberlain, DPhil, co-founder, president, and CEO of Neomorph.
Molecular glues are molecules that encourage two proteins to come together that normally wouldn’t interact. They achieve this by changing the surface of their target proteins and can be used in two ways: by binding to the enzyme, known as an ligase, or to the target protein. They help remove rogue proteins from the cell.
Several key deals have recently been announced around glue degraders. In April 2023, Proxygen announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Merck & Co in a deal potentially worth up to $2.55 billion.
In 2022, BMS made a glue degrader deal worth $550M with SyntheX and extended an agreement in this field with Evotec that could be worth up to $5B. Now BMS describes themselves as “a leader in the targeted protein degradation field, and the only company that has successfully developed and commercialized protein degrader agents.” The company is pursuing three types of protein degraders: molecular glues, ligand-directed degraders (LDDs) and antibody drug conjugate (ADC) degraders.
Novo’s deal with Neomorph adds another key player to the field.
“By combining Neomorph’s proprietary glue discovery platform with Novo Nordisk’s vast experience in cardiometabolic and rare diseases, we are well positioned to develop transformative treatments in these areas. This collaboration will enable the expansion of our platform into new therapeutic areas, complementing our ongoing efforts in oncology.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Neomorph will receive an upfront and near-term milestone payments, plus R&D funding. Neomorph is also eligible to receive future clinical, commercial and sales milestone payments bringing the total potential deal value for multiple targets to $1.46B, plus tiered royalties. Neomorph will lead discovery and preclinical activities against selected targets with Novo Nordisk having the right to exclusively pursue further clinical development and commercialization of the compounds.
“Novo Nordisk is expanding its drug discovery efforts and deploying a range of novel technology platforms with the aim of discovering and developing new treatment solutions for people living with serious chronic diseases. We are pleased to enter this research collaboration and eager to start the scientific work on the novel class of molecular glue degraders being pioneered by Neomorph,” said Brian Vandahl, senior vice president of Global Research Technologies at Novo Nordisk.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with Novo Nordisk, a world-class healthcare company within diabetes, obesity and rare blood disorders,” said Chamberlain.
Neomorph is focused on the discovery and development of new medicines, such as molecular glue degraders, against “undruggable” targets. The biotech is headquartered in San Diego, California, and has a key collaboration with the Center for Protein Degradation at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. The company was founded in 2020 and is venture backed by Deerfield Management Company.
