Novo Nordisk secures major licensing deals for obesity and diabetes drugs

Novo Nordisk has entered into several strategic licensing agreements to expand its cardiometabolic and obesity drug portfolio. The company signed a deal with Swedish biotech Nanexa worth up to $1.33 billion to utilize its PharmaShell drug delivery platform. This technology aims to create longer-lasting injectable medicines, potentially moving from weekly to monthly or quarterly dosing intervals.

Additionally, Novo Nordisk secured exclusive global rights (excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan) for HRS-1596, an obesity and type 2 diabetes drug candidate developed by China's Hengrui Pharma. The deal for HRS-1596 involves an upfront payment of $300 million, with total potential payments reaching up to $2.6 billion based on development and commercial milestones. HRS-1596 is a GLP-1 and GIP dual agonist that could potentially be administered as a once-weekly oral pill, offering a more convenient alternative to current daily oral treatments or injections.

In separate clinical developments, Novo Nordisk reported that its CagriSema combination therapy showed significant weight loss results in a Phase 3 study, outperforming Eli Lilly’s Tirzepatide in certain metrics for patients with type 2 diabetes.