Today, a brief rundown of news from Novo Nordisk and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, as well as updates from Ideaya Biosciences, Neomorph and GSK that you may have missed.
Novo Nordisk is partnering with OpenAI in a deal meant to help speed its drug development capabilities. Through the collaboration, Novo will integrate artificial intelligence tools into each step of its operations, from analyzing complex datasets and identifying new drug prospects to selling and manufacturing marketed medicines. OpenAI will help train Novo's workforce and enhance the company's "AI literacy," building on the drugmaker's existing AI-focused collaborations with individual biotechs. The companies didn't disclose financial terms, but Novo said "full integration" is expected by the end of 2026. — Ben Fidler
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals will co-develop “next generation” radiopharmaceuticals with Australian biotechnology firm Telix. Through a deal announced Monday, Regeneron will pay Telix $40 million up front to access Telix’s radiopharmaceutical manufacturing capabilities for up to four initial programs. Telix has the option to co-promote and split rights to the therapies or earn a total of $2.1 billion in future payments. Regeneron could add four more programs to the deal, too. The collaboration represents Regeneron’s first foray into radiopharmaceuticals, a crowded area of cancer research, and involves “multiple solid tumor targets” from the company’s portfolio of antibodies, according to a statement. — Ben Fidler
Ideaya Bioscienes and partner Servier said that a regimen involving their experimental medication darovasertib succeeded in a late-stage trial in a rare eye cancer called metastatic uveal melanoma. A combination of darovasertib and the drug crizotinib slowed tumor progression for a median of 6.9 months versus 3.1 months for investigator’s choice of therapy, and showed an “early trend” towards a survival benefit. The findings represent “some of the best, if not the best” efficacy against the disease, wrote Cantor Fitzgerald’s Li Watsek. Still, Ideaya shares climbed by only a modest percentage as the results were “in line” with investors’ expectations and some had hoped for “superior” data to what Ideaya reported in earlier testing, added Leerink Partners’ Andrew Berens. The partners are preparing an accelerated approval submission. — Ben Fidler
Neomorph, a San Diego-based biotech, said Monday it raised a $100 million Series B round to further develop “molecular glue” drugs. Molecular glue therapies forcibly pull together two proteins, one of which is a drug target and the other a molecule that tags the target for destruction. This approach has drawn significant interest as a way to reach “undruggable” proteins. Neomorph’s lead drug, NEO-811, degrades a key protein called ARNT that’s implicated in a common kind of kidney cancer. It’s currently in a Phase 1/2 trial. The Series B round was led by Deerfield Management and included a handful of other investors such as Regeneron Ventures, Longwood Fund and Alexandria Venture Investments. — Gwendolyn Wu
An experimental antibody-drug conjugate from GSK is showing early promise against gynecological cancers. Early-stage data presented over the weekend show the therapy, known for short as "mo-rez," achieved response rates of 62% in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer and 67% in recurrent or advanced endometrial tumors. GSK licensed most rights to mo-rez from China's Hansoh Pharma in 2023 and is advancing it into five pivotal studies this year. The drug is part of an early oncology portfolio that's "largely ignored" and has "significantly underappreciated pipeline opportunities," wrote Jefferies analyst Michael Leuchten. — Ben Fidler
