Photys is eligible for up to $186 million from Novo Nordisk for its PHICS small molecules that pair a kinase to a disease-causing protein for phosphorylation.
A titan in the cardiometabolic space with its diabetes and obesity GLP-1 semaglutide, Novo Nordisk continues to push the envelope, striking a deal Wednesday with Photys Therapeutics to explore a new class of molecule. The startup announced a research collaboration with Novo on Wednesday to work on several molecules for an undisclosed cardiometabolic disease target.
The deal isn’t large—Photys is eligible to receive a total of $186 million in upfront and milestone payments—and comes about two years after the company launched with a $75 million Series A. The company has been relatively quiet since, with no news releases beyond the announcement of a chief scientific officer appointment.
Spun out of the Broad Institute, Photys is developing bifunctional small molecules dubbed PHICS that bring a specific kinase responsible for phosphorylation into proximity with a disease target. The potential functional impact of phosphorylation includes activation, stabilization, immunomodulation, degradation or inactivation of the target protein.
“This collaboration represents a strong alignment between the desire to control a critical protein and a technology capable of doing so in a tissue-specific manner,” Alexandra Joseph, chief scientific officer of Photys, said in a statement.
Photys will be responsible for preclinical development and Novo will further advance the PHICS molecules through IND-enabling studies and clinical development.
The collaboration follows a big dollar molecular glue degrader deal Novo made in February with Neomorph for cardiovascular and rare disease indications. Molecular glue degraders are being touted for their potential to “drug the undruggable” as they enhance interaction between a disease-causing protein and a ligase that will help initiate its destruction. While the upfront payment was undisclosed, the overall value could reach up to $1.46 billion for multiple targets.
Last January, Novo announced two separate research collaborations worth up to $1 billion total with Omega Therapeutics and Cellarity for novel therapies in cardiometabolic conditions.
Additionally, Novo Holdings completed its acquisition of Catalent on Wednesday, adding three manufacturing sites to expand its capacity for producing its mega blockbuster injection semaglutide.
