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As competition continues to intensify in the obesity treatment market, Novo Nordisk has struck a collaboration and licencing deal worth up to $2.2bn with the US-based biotech Septerna.
The companies plan to develop oral small molecule drugs targeting obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiometabolic diseases. The deal is valued at up to $2.2bn, including more than $200m in upfront and near-term payments to Septerna.
The partnership centres on the discovery and development of oral therapeutics aimed at G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) – a key class of cell membrane proteins that regulate diverse biological functions such as metabolism, hormone secretion, and immune response. Septerna focuses on drugging GPCRs using proprietary platform technologies designed to enable precision targeting of these complex proteins.
Novo Nordisk and Septerna will jointly initiate four preclinical development programmes, targeting well-established metabolic receptors for glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), gastric inhibitory peptide (GIP), and glucagon. These receptors are core to the mechanism of several existing GLP-1 receptor agonist therapies, including Novo’s leading obesity treatment Wegovy (semaglutide).
Under the terms of the deal, Novo will fund all research and development activities associated with the partnership. The two companies will collaborate during the discovery and early development phases, with Novo taking full responsibility beginning at the investigational new drug (IND)-enabling stage. Septerna retains an option to convert one of the development programmes into a profit-sharing arrangement, rather than receiving milestone payments.
The agreement is part of Novo Nordisk’s broader strategy to expand its presence in the highly competitive obesity treatment market. The Danish pharmaceutical group has been steadily building a pipeline of oral therapies to complement its injectable GLP-1RA products, including Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide).
Novo is currently awaiting a regulatory decision from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an oral version of Wegovy, with a decision expected in Q4 2025. If approved, it would be the first oral GLP-1 therapy for obesity.
The collaboration with Septerna follows several recent transactions by Novo aimed at strengthening its pipeline. In March 2025, it signed a deal worth up to $1bn with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals for the rights to LX9851, an experimental oral therapy for obesity. Earlier in the year, Novo invested $50m in Variant Bio to explore genetic targets for metabolic diseases and partnered with Gensaic to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven, tissue-targeted protein therapies in a $354m deal.