Zealand Pharma has announced a multi-target strategic collaboration with Generate Biomedicines.

Under the collaboration, the companies intend to design and develop multispecific protein therapeutics for obesity and other metabolic diseases using The Generate Platform, which integrates generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) with high-throughput experimental validation.

The collaboration is intended to accelerate the design and development of protein therapeutics for obesity and metabolic disease by combining Zealand Pharma’s expertise in metabolic health with Generate’s ability to engineer proteins with AI and refine those designs using experimental data toward the desired biological function.

Under the terms of the agreement, Generate Biomedicines will use its proprietary generative AI platform to lead research through lead-candidate selection. Zealand Pharma will assume responsibility for subsequent clinical development, regulatory submissions, and worldwide commercialisation.

Utpal Singh, Chief Scientific Officer, Zealand Pharma, said, “We are thrilled to collaborate with Generate, a leader in AI and structure-enabled drug generation. This collaboration expands our toolbox to include proteins, complementing our existing small-molecule and peptide capabilities and opening new approaches for polypharmacology for innovative therapeutics. This collaboration reflects our strategy of expanding our platform and integrating our metabolic expertise in Copenhagen with the multi-modality expertise in Cambridge to develop next-generation therapeutics for metabolic health.”

For the 2 initial programs, Generate Biomedicines will receive USD 30 million up-front and up to USD 35 million in early preclinical milestones, and is eligible for total milestones of nearly USD 1.2 billion, including potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties on future worldwide net sales of any commercialised products resulting from the collaboration.

Mike Nally, Chief Executive Officer, Generate Biomedicines, said, “We are excited to bring together Zealand Pharma’s deep expertise in peptide therapeutics and metabolic disease with Generate’s cutting-edge computational platform and experimental capabilities to address the continued unmet medical need for patients with cardiometabolic disease. Together, our teams will first define what a great medicine for patients looks like for each of the 2 initial programs, and then leverage The Generate Platform to design multispecific candidates that meet or exceed that profile.”