Novo has teamed up with macrocycle specialist Orbis Medicines in a deal worth up to $1.4bn, marking an effort by the Danish pharma to bolster its cardiometabolic pipeline after a series of setbacks.
Under the license agreement, Orbis will help Novo discover and develop oral macrocycle therapeutics for “high value” therapeutic targets in cardiometabolic diseases, though neither the number of indications nor the protein targets were disclosed. The $1.4bn deal value includes both upfront and milestone payments. As part of the agreement, Novo will also make a strategic investment in the biotech, which is also headquartered in Denmark.
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Orbis’ platform specialises in discovering macrocycle therapies. Macrocycles are a large ring-shaped molecule that bridges the gap between traditional small-molecule drugs and larger biologics. Their closed ring structure provides metabolic stability and an ability to conduct protein-protein interactions that standard small molecules cannot, while retaining the targeted characteristics of biologics. There are already plenty of approved macrocycle drugs, with Novartis’ radiopharma medication, Lutathera (lutetium Lu-177), perhaps the most well-known example.
Alongside Novo, other big pharma companies have seen the financial potential of macrocycles. Novartis signed a licensing agreement worth up to $1.7bn with macrocycle developer Unnatural Products in February 2026. AstraZeneca entered into a strategic partnership with Syneron Bio worth up to $3.47bn in March 2025, with the aim of developing macrocyclic peptide therapies for chronic diseases.
For Orbis, the deal with Novo marks its first high-profile deal, though Eli Lilly’s venture capital arm previously participated in a $134m Series A round. The biotech was established by Novo Holding in 2021, which also acts as Novo Nordisk’s controlling and majority voting shareholder.
Orbis states it has one of the industry’s largest experimental macrocycle datasets. According to the biotech, it is designing its drugs to overcome the longstanding oral bioavailability and drug-likeness limitations of macrocycles. Its platform is built on an integration of generative AI and high-throughput synthesis capabilities.
Orbis’ CEO, Morten Graugaard, said: “Our platform continuously learns from data generated by our high-throughput chemistry and screening platform to design orally bioavailable macrocycles with the potential to replace injectable medicines.”
The collab means Novo has ventured into AI twice this week. On 16 September, the pharma company signed a deal with Anthropic to use Claude in R&D acceleration efforts.
This all comes in the same week that Novo announced a major rebrand. While still legally known as Novo Nordisk, the drugmaker will now be known solely as Novo in its day-to-day activities.
The rebrand is part of a wider strategy Novo is undertaking to turn its fortunes around. Once the most valuable company in Europe, share prices have fallen over recent years amid a loss of obesity and type 2 diabetes market share. While Novo initially dominated sales with semaglutide brands Ozempic and Wegovy, Lilly has sped into a dominant position. Lilly reported $23bn in revenue in Q2 on the back of strong sales for its type 2 diabetes and obesity drugs; its 48% uptick far exceeded growth margins for Novo.
Novo will look to Orbis for a replenishing of promising assets in its pipeline, which has suffered setbacks in recent weeks. Earlier this week, it walked away from a $285m pact with Ascendis that was aiming to develop a monthly weight loss drug. Novo also stopped two clinical trials for its experimental heart failure drug, ziltivekimab, which analysts had placed significant importance on as a growth driver.
