Novo Nordisk and Vivtex partner in deal worth up to $2 . 1bn

pmlive.com · Feb 26, 2026 · Collected from GDELT

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Novo Nordisk and Vivtex Corporation have partnered to develop next-generation oral biologic medicines for obesity, diabetes and associated comorbidities. Under the agreement, Vivtex will license select oral drug-delivery technologies to Novo Nordisk, while Vivtex is eligible to receive upfront consideration, research funding and milestone payments totalling up to $2.1bn and tiered royalties on future product sales. Brian Vandahl, senior vice president, Therapeutics Discovery, at Novo Nordisk said: “Novo Nordisk has been at the forefront of innovation in protein and peptide engineering for several decades, and not least within oral formulation of peptides. We launched the first-ever oral biologic more than five years ago and have recently launched the world’s first oral biologic for obesity. “We continue to push the boundaries of science through both internal and external innovation to fulfil our mission of treating millions more people living with obesity and diabetes and their associated comorbidities.” The collaboration aims to create oral biologic drug candidates that are currently need to be given by injection due to poor absorption in the gastrointestinal tract. The partnership combines Novo Nordisk’s deep expertise in peptide and protein therapeutics with Vivtex’s proprietary gastrointestinal screening and formulation platform to identify next-generation oral therapeutics. Thomas von Erlach, CEO and co-founder of Vivtex, said: “Making biologics oral has been one of the most difficult challenges in drug delivery. Vivtex was founded to systematically solve this problem by integrating high-throughput experimentation with computational and AI-enabled analytics. Partnering with Novo Nordisk allows us to apply our platform across important metabolic disease areas, with the goal of enabling oral therapies that would otherwise require injection.” Vivtex’s platform combines multiple proprietary gastrointestinal screening assays, drug-delivery technologies, and computational simulation and AI capabilities to optimise the oral delivery of biologic medicines. The platform is designed to achieve high oral bioavailability and consistent in-human performance. Following research and formulation selection, Novo Nordisk will assume responsibility for global development, regulatory activities, manufacturing and commercialisation of any resulting products. Iona Everson 26th February 2026