Novo Nordisk has announced that its existing research collaboration in oral drug delivery technologies with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) has been expanded.
The new agreement means that the collaboration has been extended until 2026, which will expand the scope of the collaboration to encompass the creation and integration of bioelectronics, biosensors and stimuli-responsive delivery devices.
Marcus Schindler, executive vice president and chief scientific officer of Novo Nordisk said: “Working with the Langer and Traverso teams continues to be a unique opportunity for Novo Nordisk to live out our aspiration of bringing transformational new solutions to patients by thinking big, working with the best, and using our distinct capabilities to aim to achieve what might otherwise seem impossible.”
Giovanni Traverso, the Karl van Tassel, Career Development Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT and a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School said: “We continue to explore the immense potential for enhanced delivery of biologic drugs and stem cell-derived therapeutics through the platforms we are developing.”
Robert Langer, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT said: “Our group at MIT strives to combine engineering and medicine to solve important problems and find the best ways to get those solutions to the people who need them.
“Our work together with Novo Nordisk has shown that they share this vision and we are thrilled to expand into this ambitious new programme together.”
Since 2015, scientists from Novo Nordisk and the laboratories of Professor Traverso and Professor Langer have explored novel technologies as alternatives to syringes and pen injectors, by co-creating new devices that safely and effectively deliver biologic medicines through oral administration.
This collaboration has resulted in several high-impact scientific publications describing breakthrough inventions, including the SOMA robotic pill, which has subsequently been licensed exclusively to Novo Nordisk for clinical development.
Novo Nordisk, founded in 1923 and headquartered in Denmark, is a leading global healthcare company working to drive change to defeat diabetes and other serious chronic diseases such as obesity and rare blood and endocrine disorders by pioneering scientific breakthroughs, expanding access to medicines and working to prevent and ultimately cure disease.