Orbis Medicines and Novo Nordisk partner in a deal worth up to USD 1.4 billion

Orbis Medicines, a drug discovery company with operations in Lausanne and Copenhagen, has entered a multi-target collaboration with Novo Nordisk worth up to USD 1.4 billion to develop oral macrocycle drugs for cardiometabolic diseases.

Orbis Medicines has entered a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novo Nordisk to discover and develop next-generation oral macrocycle therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases. Announced on September 17, 2026, the deal is worth up to USD 1.4 billion, covering an upfront payment and potential development and commercial milestones, with tiered royalties on future product sales. Novo Nordisk will also make a strategic investment in Orbis. The amounts of the upfront payment, royalties and investment were not disclosed, and the targets were not named.

An AI-driven platform for oral alternatives to injectables

Orbis focuses on macrocycles, which it calls nCycles: orally bioavailable molecules aimed at targets already validated by injectable biologic drugs. They are designed with its nGen platform, which combines generative AI, high-throughput synthesis and a multi-parameter optimization engine in a “lab in a loop.” According to the company, nGen draws on hit-finding libraries of 100 billion compounds and can synthesize and analyze up to 100,000 macrocycles in weeks.

Morten Graugaard, CEO of Orbis Medicines, says the future of oral biologic drug discovery “lies at the intersection of AI” with proprietary macrocycle datasets and automated chemistry. Brian Vandahl, Senior Vice President, Therapeutics Discovery at Novo Nordisk, says the collaboration could “unlock innovative oral treatment options for patients with cardiometabolic diseases.”

Scientific roots at EPFL

The science behind Orbis was developed at EPFL by Professor Christian Heinis and Sevan Habeshian. Novo Holdings officially founded the company in 2021 and launched it publicly in February 2024 with a EUR 26 million seed round co-led with Forbion. A EUR 90 million Series A led by NEA followed in January 2025, with Lilly Ventures, Cormorant and EIFO joining as new investors. Orbis has raised EUR 116 million in venture funding to date.