Novo Nordisk spends $60M on advanced AI in search of new cardiovascular medications

Novo Nordisk announced a new collaboration with Valo Health, a healthcare technology company focused on using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to identify new drug treatments for cardiovascular disease (CVD).

As part of the agreement, Novo Nordisk will gain access to Valo’s Opal Computational Platform, which provides users with “real-world patient data, AI-enabled small molecule discovery and the Biowire human tissue modelling platform designed to speed up the discovery and development process.” The company is also licensing three preclinical drug discovery programs from Valo that were all originally discovered using the Opal platform.

Novo Nordisk is paying Valo $60 million upfront, and the agreement leaves room for up to $2.7 billion in future payments plus additional potential royalty payments. As the two companies continue to work together, they say they aim to “derive novel insights from human genetic and longitudinal patient data in cardiovascular disease.”