Novo Nordisk has announced that it has entered into a partnership with Valo Health, worth up to $60m, to discover and develop new treatments for cardiometabolic diseases.

The collaboration aims to utilise Valo’s Opal Computational Platform and real-world patient dataset, as well as its artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled small molecule discovery and its human tissue modelling platform, Biowire, to accelerate discovery and development.

The Opal Computational Platform is an integrated, end-to-end drug discovery and development platform that is designed to enable a fully integrated and efficient approach for targeting and advancing candidates to regulatory approval.

As part of the agreement, Valo will receive an upfront payment and a potential near-term milestone payment of $60m, as well as milestone payments for up to 11 programmes totalling up to $2.7 billion, plus research and development funding and potential royalty payments, said Novo Nordisk.

Valo will enable the identification and validation of novel druggable targets, as well as the development of drug candidates against these targets, and will predict compound safety and efficacy.

In addition, Novo Nordisk will license three preclinical drug discovery programmes in cardiovascular diseases discovered by Valo’s Opal Computational Platform.

Marcus Schindler, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk, said: “AI and machine learning hold the promise to positively impact drug discovery and development, in particular enabling our vision of leveraging human datasets early in the process, which should lead to a better understanding of target biology.

“Valo brings a differentiated and powerful approach to using these technologies on real-world human data to generate new insights and translate them into potential therapeutics for the benefit of patients suffering from cardiometabolic conditions.”

David Berry, chief executive officer and founder of Valo, added: “We are excited to implement the full spectrum of our platform, spanning from disease characterisation through clinical development, as we aim to deliver new therapeutics to benefit patients living with some of the most prevalent chronic diseases of our time.”

Globally, cardiometabolic diseases, including heart attack, stroke, diabetes and insulin resistance, lead to an estimated 17.9 million deaths each year.

https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/novo_nordisk_and_valo_health_collaborate_in_deal_worth_up_to_$3.3bn_1501044