Novo Nordisk Signs Up-to-$1.4B Oral Macrocycle Deal With Lilly-Backed Orbis

Novo Nordisk has entered a multi-target discovery and licensing collaboration with Copenhagen-based Orbis Medicines to develop orally available macrocycle therapies for cardiometabolic diseases.

Orbis is eligible for up to $1.4 billion in upfront, development and commercial milestone payments, plus tiered royalties on any resulting product sales. The companies did not disclose the payment breakdown or the number of targets.

Novo will also make an undisclosed strategic investment in Orbis. The deal uses Orbis’s AI-enabled nGen platform, which combines macrocycle chemistry and molecular design to pursue drug targets that have been difficult to address with conventional oral medicines.

The partnership is significant because macrocycles—ring-shaped molecules—may help convert treatment approaches often reliant on injections into pills, a major priority in obesity, diabetes and broader cardiometabolic drug development.

Although Orbis is backed by Lilly Ventures, the venture arm of Novo rival Eli Lilly, Lilly is an investor rather than a party to this Novo-Orbis alliance. Orbis raised a €90 million Series A in 2025 led by NEA, with participation from Lilly Ventures, Novo Holdings and others.