Novo Nordisk, Inc.

Deep Apple Therapeutics will use its platform to discover and optimize compounds against a non-incretin GPCR target.\n Novo Nordisk has planted another seed to fuel the blossoming of its obesity business, inking an $812 million deal with Deep Apple Therapeutics to access small molecules against a non-incretin GPCR target.Apple Tree Partners founded the biotech—and committed $52 million in series A funding—to discover small-molecule drug candidates by screening artificial-intelligence-generated virtual libraries. Deep Apple has used the cash and technology to establish a pipeline that includes three obesity programs. The biotech has yet to name its targets but has revealed two of the programs are focused on receptors other than GLP-1.Novo has agreed to pay up to $812 million, including an upfront payment, research costs and milestones, for a global license to small molecules aimed at a GPCR target that isn’t an incretin. GLP-1 and GIP, the targets of today’s leading obesity drugs, are incretins. The target has uses in cardiometabolic diseases including obesity.The collaborators said the target is well suited to Deep Apple’s platform, highlighting the biotech’s use of cryo-electron microscopy to capture the dynamics and motion of GPCRs in different conformations to reveal novel binding pockets. Deep Apple pairs its structural biology capabilities with virtual libraries to identify small molecules that dock in the binding sites. Deep Apple will use its platform to discover and optimize compounds against the target. Novo will work with Deep Apple on the research plan and take charge just before IND-enabling studies get underway.The pact is the latest in a series of deals Novo has struck since its next-generation obesity prospect CagriSema underwhelmed in phase 3 late last year. Seeking to hit back after rival Eli Lilly claimed victory in the battle of the current-generation products, Novo hyped CagriSema only for the weight loss data to fall short of its own target in the phase 3 trial.Since then, Novo has offered $50 million in upfront and near-term funding to Variant Bio, committed $190 million in near-term payments to expand a pact with Valo Health, agreed to pay Gensaic up to $354 million per target, given United Laboratories $200 million for a triple agonist and bet $200 million and $75 million in upfront and near-term payments on preclinical prospects from, respectively, Septerna and Lexicon Pharmaceuticals.

Computing powerhouse Nvidia partnered with Novo Nordisk on Wednesday to apply AI in several ways to fuel drug discovery and development, including simulations and physical technologies to improve early research and clinical development. Together, the pair will plumb Novo Nordisk’s library of scientific literature to inform biomedical large language models intended to find correlations between genes, proteins and diseases.On the discovery front, Novo Nordisk will use a range of Nvidia offerings to build single-cell algorithms capable of predicting cellular responses to drug candidates and structures, as well as models that can build molecules with drug-like properties.First, Nvidia's BioNeMo will help the Danish drugmaker apply generative AI (genAI) towards drug discovery. Novo Nordisk will also use the tech firm's NIM and NeMo microservices to create custom agentic AI workflows. Once the models and agents have been built, Novo Nordisk can run them on the Danish Centre for AI Innovation's supercomputer, Gefion, which is powered by Nvidia's DGX SuperPOD system.Novo Nordisk also has access to Nvidia's Omniverse platform, which allows genAI and simulation tools to be integrated with physical technologies, like robotics. "By coupling Nvidia's accelerated computing platform and expertise with Novo’s deep expertise in life sciences research and development, we aim to build custom models that will aid our scientists in developing new medicines faster and more efficiently," said Mishal Patel, Novo Nordisk's SVP, AI and digital innovation.

Novo Nordisk signed a research collaboration with Deep Apple Therapeutics worth over $800 million to discover oral treatments for cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity. The alliance gives Novo exclusive global rights to develop compounds targeting a non-incretin G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) using Deep Apple's AI-powered drug discovery platform.Under the deal, Deep Apple will handle discovery and optimisation of potential drugs, while Novo takes over once a candidate is ready for IND-enabling studies. In return, Deep Apple receives an upfront payment, research funding and potential milestones totaling up to $812 million, plus royalties if any drugs make it to market.The South San Francisco-based startup's approach combines cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) with machine learning to screen billions of virtual compounds, a process that can identify "potent, novel leads within months," said CEO Spiros Liras in a release Wednesday.According to Deep Apple, its Orchard.ai platform generates project-specific chemical libraries with more than 95% of the compounds being entirely new compared to those in the widely used Zinc22 database. The company then uses cryo-EM to reveal how proteins like GPCRs and other target classes change shape, helping identify the structures most likely to trigger the desired signalling cascades.The tie-up with Deep Apple highlights Novo's broader strategy to stay ahead in the cardiometabolic space. Over the past 18 months, the Danish pharma has signed more than a dozen deals aimed at expanding its pipeline in obesity and metabolic disease, but not all those bets have paid off. Failed trials, legal disputes, and at least one partner's bankruptcy have raised eyebrows about the company's dealmaking strategy (see – Vital Signs: Novo Nordisk plays catch-up with triple agonist deal).The company also recently said CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen would be stepping aside amid concerns about slowing momentum after the Danish pharma's shares lost half their value from 2024 highs, and increasing competition, particularly from weight-loss rival Eli Lilly. However, Novo's stock has recovered more than 20% since the pending leadership change was announced (see – Vital Signs: Novo Nordisk gets re-energised in the wake of CEO ouster).