Cellarity Announces the Expansion of Its Partnership with Novo Nordisk to Discover and Develop a Novel Treatment in Metabolic Steatohepatitis (MASH) Using Its Innovative Platform

Building on initial success, this research collaboration will continue to leverage Cellarity’s unique platform to create a small molecule therapy for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH)

Under the terms of the agreement, Cellarity and Flagship’s Pioneering Medicines are eligible to receive R&D funding and up to $532 million in upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on annual net sales of a licensed product

Somerville, Mass., January 4, 2024 – Cellarity Inc., a life sciences company founded by Flagship Pioneering to transform the way medicines are created, announced today the expansion of its collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S. The research collaboration will further leverage Novo Nordisk’s expertise in metabolic disease and Cellarity’s proprietary platform technology to unlock a new potential therapy for MASH, for which there are no currently approved treatments.

Cellarity has developed unique capabilities to link biology and chemistry with high dimensional, transcriptomic data to design medicines against the cellular signatures of disease. Using proprietary AI models, the Cellarity platform provides novel insights into cellular dysfunction and enables the design of drugs previously inaccessible with traditional methods of drug discovery. In September 2022, Novo Nordisk engaged Cellarity to identify novel cell behaviors implicated in MASH disease progression. The research collaboration expands on this initial work and will further leverage Cellarity’s platform to develop a small molecule therapeutic.

“Cellarity’s platform is developing a new paradigm in drug creation by harnessing the power of AI and multiomics data,” said Fabrice Chouraqui, Pharm.D., CEO of Cellarity and a CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering. “The expansion of our partnership with Novo Nordisk creates a unique opportunity to broaden the application of our platform to a new therapeutic area of metabolic disease via our shared commitment to develop a treatment for MASH, ultimately impacting patients and creating lasting value.”

“At Novo Nordisk, we are focused on developing transformative treatments, especially in therapeutic areas like MASH where treatments are needed,” said Uli Stilz, Head of Novo Nordisk’s Bio Innovation Hub. “With the Cellarity platform, in less than nine months we have been able to reveal novel biology associated with disease progression in MASH, unleashing the potential to develop innovative, efficacious medicines for MASH. I look forward to continuing our work together to find new potential paths forward to drive change in this very complex disease.”

This program in MASH, previously known as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), emerged from a framework partnership between Flagship Pioneering and Novo Nordisk to leverage Flagship’s bioplatform companies to create transformational medicines in therapeutic areas with unmet need.

Under the terms of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will reimburse R&D costs. Additionally, the agreement may pay up to $532 million in upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on annual net sales of a licensed product, to be shared between the respective companies and Flagship’s Pioneering Medicines.

About Cellarity

Cellarity is fundamentally redesigning the way drugs are created. By shifting our scientific focus from a single target to the underlying cellular dysfunction, the company unravels the complexity of disease biology to create medicines that are out of reach with a target-based drug discovery approach. Founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2017, Cellarity has developed a platform that utilizes proprietary AI models trained on over 30 million single cell transcriptomes to uncover novel actionable biology and create non-intuitive drug candidates in a vast array of diseases. The company currently has programs ongoing in several disease areas including metabolic disease, hematology, and immunology. For more information, visit www.cellarity.com.