Aspect Biosystems and Novo Nordisk are expanding their partnership. The duo had previously made a deal worth up to $2.6 billion in 2023. Then the deal centered on drug discovery and the use of Aspect’s bioprinting platform to develop therapies. Under the new deal, Aspect will develop therapies based on stem cell-derived islets. The joint effort will see Novo Nordisk’s islet technologies work along with Aspect’s 3D printing platform to make diabetes medication.

These cellular therapies will aim to reduce or eliminate the effects of diabetes through engineered cell-derived islet and hypoimmune treatments. Additionally, Novo will make a bigger investment in Apect and inject cash to help R&D efforts.

Senior vice president, Global Research at Novo Nordisk said,

“Novo Nordisk was founded on a commitment to improve the lives of people living with diabetes. That commitment is as strong now as it was 100 years ago, and we have a continued focus on bringing innovation to people living with type 1 diabetes through internal and external innovation efforts,. Aspect brings tremendous expertise and capabilities in cellular medicines, and we are proud of our partnership with them to progress transformative cell therapies toward clinical development and potentially generating a functional cure for people living with diabetes.”

Aspect Biosystems CEO Tamer Mohamed stated,

“Our partnership with Novo Nordisk combines more than a century of their global leadership in the fight against diabetes with Aspect’s leadership in cell therapy and our biotech speed and agility, creating a powerful force multiplier to deliver clinical impact. By integrating key technologies and capabilities, we are strengthening our full-stack platform, accelerating our path to curative cell therapies, and advancing our vision to build a generational biotechnology company that delivers global impact for people living with serious diseases.”

Specifically, the two aim to develop “cellular medicines and functional cures for serious metabolic and endocrine diseases, including an islet replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes designed to restore blood glucose control without the need for chronic immune suppression. These cellular medicines are designed to be allogeneic, enabling scalable manufacturing using off-the-shelf cells.” Through making cells easier to be accepted by the body, such a treatment would be a real breakthrough. If islets could be engineered to promote insulin or somehow influence better-regulated glucagon and insulin secretion, it could be a very big deal indeed.

Currently, a staggering 11% of the US population has diabetes. There are not many potential treatments that could have a bigger financial impact, and few that could impact so many people who often use medicines. Novo Nordisk is one of the leaders in insulin and diabetes treatments worldwide. Their confidence in Aspect and continued investment is important. The sheer amount of money Novo is investing in Aspect, along with its continued support, points to real potential here. Drug discovery is a difficult and very expensive process, however. It may take many years for us to find out if any drugs will come to market and how they work.

With FluidForm’s Meck partnership and other less flamboyant tie-ups, we are seeing real effort and money flow from pharma into 3D printing. Drug-printing companies such as FabRx and CraftHealth could also see major investment from large pharma companies. The numbers in pharma are staggering. GSK faces the expiration of the patent cover for one drug, an HIV medication called dolutegravir, starting in 2028. This drug gets them over $6 billion in revenue a year. Trying to fill that hole, the company just spent $2 billion on an allergy therapy.

Large pharmaceutical companies are therefore spending billions on early-stage R&D and billions more on acquiring close-to-market therapies to make up for R&D shortfalls. The fact that these firms are publicly traded, and therefore need consistent sales increases while keeping margins to appeal to investors, means that the pressure is relentless. Subsequently, there is a lot of discussion about “drug pipelines,” in which companies talk about future revenue opportunities down the pike to replace current revenues. Oil companies have reserves, and these estimates govern a lot of their thinking. In pharma pipeline anxiety powers billions in R&D and acquisitions. This is partially logical, but at the same time, no one is asking Nike to replace the Jordan. Investments in 3D printing are therefore a drop in the bucket and useful for the CEO’s of big pharma firms.

Not only could they pan out in the future, but they also help you keep your job by creating an imagined future. 3D printing in this embodiment could be a path to new drugs and new drug therapy systems in wholly new ways. The hit machine could make music cheaper and more often with the magic of Additive. If that is the case, it is something that we have yet to know, but given this investment, we already know that more money is due to flow to our industry from pharma, and this will have a real impact.

Images courtesy of Aspect Biosystems