Remibrutinib

Novartis will have worldwide development and commercialization rights to any resulting targets as part of a new deal with London-based Relation Therapeutics.\n Novartis has tapped up an artificial-intelligence-enabled British biotech for a $1.7 billion biobucks deal to discover new targets for immuno-dermatology conditions.What caught the Swiss pharma’s eye is the so-called Lab-in-the-Loop platform developed by London-based Relation Therapeutics. The biotech has touted the platform as a way to “integrate state-of-the-art AI with patient-derived multi-omic data and proprietary experimental systems to uncover causal genes and refine target hypotheses.”The companies didn’t share too many details about the nature of this morning’s agreement beyond the fact that it’s a “multi-program, strategic collaboration …. to discover and advance novel targets for atopic diseases.”What we do know is that Novartis will hand over $55 million, spread across an upfront cash payment, an equity investment and additional R&D funding. Down the line, Relation is eligible to receive preclinical, development, regulatory and commercial sales milestones that could reach $1.7 billion, along with tiered royalties on sales should any drugs make it to market.In the near term, Relation will oversee observational studies that use patients’ tissue to generate “functional cell atlases” of diseases. The idea is that this will help maximize the chances of identifying successful targets before any candidate actually enters the clinic.Novartis then has the worldwide development and commercialization rights to any resulting targets.The Big Pharma is already a major player in the dermatology space thanks to the likes of Cosentyx and Xolair. More recently, Novartis scored another win by getting its BTK inhibitor Rhapsido approved for chronic hives.“At Novartis, we are dedicated to harnessing cutting-edge, AI-driven approaches that enhance novel target identification and accelerate drug discovery, delivering innovative medicines for patients in need,” Fiona Marshall, Ph.D., president of biomedical research at Novartis, said in the release. “Our collaboration with Relation will combine complementary expertise, technologies and capabilities to advance new options for patients living with atopic diseases,” Marshall added.Relation, which has been described as a techbio company, arrived on the scene in early 2024, having amassed about $60 million in various seed fund raises. The company initially set its sights on developing treatments for osteoporosis.By the end of last year, the biotech had already secured a $45 million upfront cash and equity infusion from GSK as part of a collaboration to identify and validate new therapeutic targets for fibrotic diseases and osteoarthritis.“Our technology defines the molecular pathways in diseased tissue compared to healthy tissue to help discover possible new therapeutics for medicines,” Relation CEO David Roblin said in this morning’s release.“Together with Novartis’ development and commercialization capabilities, we can potentially deliver medicines that transform the standard of care,” he added.