Novo Leans Into Oral Route With Weight Loss Partnership Worth up to $2.1B

 

After its next-generation obesity asset CagriSema lost a head-to-head matchup with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, Novo Nordisk is throwing more money into the obesity space, striking a deal with Vivtex to advance novel weight loss pills.

Days after suffering a heavy blow in the clinic, Novo Nordisk is standing its ground in the obesity market, linking up with Boston’s Vivtex to advance novel weight loss pills.

The partners in their Wednesday announcement did not specify how much the Danish giant will pay upfront, revealing only that the total deal value could reach up to $2.1 billion, covering research funding and milestone payments. Vivtex will also be entitled to receive tiered royalties on product sales.

The partnership comes after Novo was forced to announce on Monday that its next-generation obesity asset CagriSema bowed to Eli Lilly’s Zepbound in a late-stage head-to-head study initiated by Novo itself. Results showed that patients on CagriSema lost 23% of their body weight on average at 84 weeks, versus Zepbound’s 25.5%.

For its investment, Novo will gain access to Vivtex’s proprietary platform and certain drug-delivery technologies, enabling the oral delivery of biologic therapies that would otherwise be restricted to injectable routes of administration.

The biotech will be responsible for early research and drug formulation, after which Novo will be able to select programs it wants to take forward. From there, the pharma will be responsible for subsequent development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialization activities.

With Wednesday’s Vivtex agreement, Novo is making its next move in an oral obesity face-off against Lilly. The Danish giant late last year won a leg up over its Indiana competitor when the FDA greenlit the pill formulation of Wegovy. The drug has been off to a strong start, reaching almost 3,100 patients just in its first week on pharmacy shelves.

But being first to the market doesn’t guarantee a victory. Novo’s Ozempic (semaglutide), widely considered to have ushered in this current era of GLP-1 dominance, was first approved in 2017. Its main challenger Mounjaro (tirzepatide), from Lilly, was cleared in 2022—some five years later. Both drugs were later approved for weight loss—as Wegovy and Zepbound, respectively—with Novo again having a significant head start. And yet Lilly’s tirzepatide franchise has surpassed Novo’s semaglutide family.

Aside from stronger commercial execution, Lilly also edges Novo out in terms of product performance. Several studies over the years have shown better weight-loss and glucose control with tirzepatide products.

But Novo isn’t giving up. It may have lost last year’s bidding war with Pfizer for obesity startup Metsera, but company executives have maintained that they’re not done dealing. Speaking to BioSpace in January, Tamara Darsow, senior vice president, global business development, said her ream is laser-focused on finding new obesity and diabetes assets.

Novo secured a deal with China’s United Laboratories in March 2025 for a triple agonist of the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors. An early readout for the asset revealed yesterday showed nearly 20% weight loss after 24 weeks.

Vivtex emerged from the famed laboratory of MIT scientists Thomas von Erlach, Giovanni Traverso and Robert Langer. The biotech is focused on advancing the oral delivery of therapeutics via its proprietary GI-ORIS high-throughput screening platform, or a “GI tract on a chip.” The Novo partnership marks an expansion into metabolic disease, with earlier programs focused on autoimmune disease.

https://www.biospace.com/business/novo-leans-into-oral-route-with-weight-loss-partnership-worth-up-to-2-1b