Under the terms of the agreement, Neomorph will receive upfront, near-term and future milestone payments as well as research and development (R&D) funding. Neomorph will lead the discovery and preclinical activities against selected targets, while Novo Nordisk will have the right to exclusively pursue further clinical development and commercialization of the compounds, the companies said.

San Diego, California-based Neomorph was founded in 2020 and specializes in targeted protein degradation and molecular glue drug discovery.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with Novo Nordisk, a world-class healthcare company within diabetes, obesity and rare blood disorders,” said Phil Chamberlain, co-founder, president and CEO of Neomorph. “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 on-going efforts in oncology.”

"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.