EraCal Therapeutics: Novo Nordisk continues to stack obesity pipeline, this time with Swiss zebrafish biotech

Novo Nordisk licensed an experimental obesity pill from EraCal Therapeutics in a deal worth €235 million, or roughly $255 million, as it hunts for the next generation of weight management medicines. Unlike Novo's widely-known weight loss injection Wegovy, the EraCal program is an oral small molecule. It "is believed to target a novel mechanism of action controlling appetite and body weight to treat obesity," EraCal said in a press release. Novo Nordisk will pay EraCal an undisclosed amount upfront, plus potential milestone payments that add up to €235 million. Few other details were shared about the program or the deal. Novo is already one of the world's leading drugmakers when it comes to obesity medications, with Wegovy generating $3.1 billion in sales in the first nine months of 2023. But the Danish Big Pharma is already searching for new obesity medications, including through last year's acquisitions of Embark Biotech and Inversago Pharma. EraCal, which was founded in 2018 and is based in Switzerland, houses a zebrafish-based drug discovery platform. Its preclinical lead candidate is dubbed Era-379, though it is unclear if that is the program licensed by Novo. The company is a spinout from the University of Zurich and Harvard University, and Novo Nordisk first began collaborating with EraCal under a research partnership that started in 2022. EraCal also has a discovery deal with Nestlé Health Science for nutraceuticals that can help with weight management. Novo Nordisk and EraCal did not immediately respond to requests for comment.