Novo Nordisk and Valo Health Expand AI Partnership for Drug Discovery

Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk and US technology company Valo Health announced on January 8 an expansion of their 2023 agreement to discover and develop treatments for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. The collaboration leverages Valo’s human dataset and AI-powered computational capabilities.

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Initial Agreement

Novo and Valo initially partnered in September 2023 in an agreement to develop up to 11 drugs, primarily focused on cardiovascular disease. Under this agreement, Valo was eligible to receive up to USD 2.7 billion in milestone payments, in addition to R&D funding and potential royalty payments.

Expanded Collaboration Details

The expanded agreement now includes an upfront payment of USD 190 million to Valo, along with equity investments and near-term milestones. Valo is eligible to receive up to USD 4.6 billion in total milestone payments, plus R&D funding and royalties. The scope of the partnership has grown to include up to 20 drug programs, an increase of 9 new programs.

Valo’s AI and Novo’s Expertise

Novo Nordisk will collaborate with Valo to develop these treatments for obesity, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. The partnership will continue to utilise Valo’s Opal Computational Platform and AI-driven insights, in combination with Novo Nordisk’s expertise in human data, genetics, and cardiometabolic diseases.

“We have already begun to realize the potential of combining the capabilities of Valo and Novo Nordisk to advance multiple AI-powered, human-centric programmes, and we believe this partnership will help Novo Nordisk fulfil our ambition to expand the number of new drug programmes we bring to the clinic,” said Marcus Schindler, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Novo Nordisk.