Biopharma dealmaking accelerates as companies place fresh bets on next-generation platform technologies, from AI-driven macrocycle design to bispecific antibody discovery and inflammatory disease pipelines.

Orbis Medicines partners with Novo

Orbis Medicines announced a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novo to discover and develop next-generation oral macrocycle therapeutics for cardiometabolic diseases. The agreement enables the acceleration of the development of a new class of orally available medicines for high-value therapeutic targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orbis Medicines is eligible to receive upwards of $1.4 billion in upfront and potential development and commercial milestone payments, in addition to tiered royalties on future product sales.¹ As part of the deal, Novo will also make a strategic investment in Orbis Medicines, underscoring its confidence in the company's nGen platform and long-term potential.¹

The collaboration is set to leverage Orbis Medicines' proprietary nGen platform, which integrates generative AI and high-throughput synthesis capabilities.¹ The platform's multi-parameter optimization engine designs nCycles with good drug-like properties, continuously improved through one of the industry's largest experimental macrocycle datasets, which Orbis is generating in real time via its lab-in-the-loop nGen platform.

nGen seeks to overcome the longstanding oral bioavailability and drug-likeness limitations of macrocycles, enabling rapid discovery of differentiated oral medicines against challenging targets.¹

"This collaboration reinforces that the future of oral biologic drug discovery lies at the intersection of AI, proprietary experimental macrocycle datasets and world-class automated chemistry," said Morten Graugaard, chief executive officer of Orbis Medicines. "Our nGen 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. Together with Novo, we have an opportunity to unlock a new generation of oral medicines for cardiometabolic diseases and demonstrate the transformative potential of AI-enabled macrocycle drug discovery."

Dualitas Therapeutics signs bispecific antibody deal with Roche

Dualitas Therapeutics, Inc. entered a research collaboration and license agreement with Roche, aiming to advance novel bispecific antibodies for immunology and inflammation diseases, using Dualitas' DualScreen Bispecific Discovery Engine.

"This collaboration with Roche underscores the enormous potential of Dualitas' technologies to identify bispecific antibodies that harness novel proximity mechanisms that may deliver truly differentiated results to patients," said Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., chief executive officer and board member of Dualitas. "Our internal pipeline of proximity engager bispecific antibodies has already demonstrated the ability to drive amplified therapeutic effects that push the boundary of what conventional antibody therapies can achieve. This collaboration extends our therapeutic innovations while we continue to develop our internal pipeline."

Under the agreement, Dualitas is expected to receive a $36.5 million upfront payment, additional research, and development and commercial milestone payments for a potential total deal value of up to $1 billion, in addition to tiered royalties.² Dualitas is set to functionally screen over 300,000 novel bispecific combinations to discover and develop bispecific antibody therapeutics, while Roche will be responsible for all subsequent preclinical development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercial activities.²

The collaboration will leverage Dualitas' expertise in proximity biology to develop bispecific antibody candidates with synergistic activities that are unattainable with conventional therapeutics.²

"We are thrilled to partner with Roche on this first-of-its-kind collaboration to functionally screen and develop novel proximity bispecific antibodies at a scale that was previously unachievable," said Forbes Huang, co-founder, chief operating officer and chief business officer of Dualitas. "Since founding Dualitas in 2023, we have established our DualScreen discovery engine as the premier technology for discovering next-generation proximity bispecific antibodies, as exemplified by our robust therapeutic pipeline entering clinic next year for immunology and inflammation diseases."

Aethlon Medical merges with North Immunology

Aethlon Medical, Inc. entered into a definitive merger agreement for an all-stock transaction with North Immunology, Inc., Nighthawk Merger Sub Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Aethlon, and Nighthawk Second Merger Sub, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aethlon.

The merger and concurrent private placement are expected to position the combined company to advance the development of Nor-101, a potentially best-in-class half-life extended IL-13 x IL-18 bispecific antibody being developed for atopic dermatitis and other immune-mediated diseases.³

The private placement is expected to provide North Immunology with approximately $180 million in gross proceeds, inclusive of the conversion of approximately $34 million of North Immunology's outstanding convertible promissory notes, together with any accrued interest, premiums and fees thereon, issued on or around the date of the agreement, and is expected to fully fund its operations into the second half of 2028.³

Upon consummation of the transaction, the combined entity will operate as North Immunology, Inc. and trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market under a new ticker symbol, NRTX.³

The oversubscribed financing was supported by a syndicate of leading healthcare-focused institutional investors, including Bain Capital Life Sciences, Janus Henderson Investors, Deep Track Capital, Longitude Capital, Soleus Capital, Invus, Sirenia Capital Management LP, funds managed by Farallon Capital Management, Adage Capital Partners LP, and TCGX.³

"Monoclonal antibodies targeting type 2 inflammation have transformed the treatment of atopic dermatitis, yet the vast majority of patients still live with substantial disease burden," said Mohit Gupta, co-founder and chief scientific officer of North Immunology. "By simultaneously targeting type 2 and non-type 2 inflammatory pathways that drive atopic dermatitis, we believe Nor-101 has the potential to deliver a best-in-disease therapeutic profile."

Sources

1. Orbis Medicines Enters Multi-Target Drug Discovery Partnership with Novo Nordisk Worth up to USD 1.4 Billion Orbis Medicines September 17, 2026, https://www.orbismedicines.com/news/orbis-medicines-enters-multi-target-drug-discovery-partnership-with-novo-nordisk-worth-up-to-usd-14-billion
2. Dualitas Therapeutics Announces Proximity Biology Research Collaboration with Roche to Discover and Develop Novel Bispecific Antibodies for I&I Diseases Dualitas Therpaeutics September 17, 2026, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dualitas-therapeutics-announces-proximity-biology-research-collaboration-with-roche-to-discover-and-develop-novel-bispecific-antibodies-for-ii-diseases-302880473.html
3. Aethlon Medical & North Immunology Announce Merger to Advance Novel IL-13 x IL-18 Bispecific Antibody for Atopic Dermatitis Aethlon Medical https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/aethlon-medical--north-immunology-announce-merger-to-advance-novel-il-13-x-il-18-bispecific-antibody-for-atopic-dermatitis-302881438.html