Cellular Intelligence, an AI startup backed by Mark Zuckerberg, said Monday it had reached a “defining moment.”
The Boston-based startup announced it has acquired global rights to STEM-PD, an experimental cell therapy program for Parkinson’s disease from Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical maker best known for its blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
The deal gives Cellular Intelligence control of a clinical-stage therapy designed to restore dopamine-producing nerve cells that are lost in Parkinson’s disease. The treatment uses stem cells from donors that are transformed into early-stage brain cells destined to become dopamine-producing neurons. It is currently being tested in a first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trial and has received Fast Track designation from the FDA.
Cellular Intelligence now plans to use its AI platform to advance the treatment toward clinical development, manufacturing and, if successful, commercialization. The deal gives the startup a chance to prove whether its technology, and AI in general, can actually help accelerate the development of complex treatments like STEM-PD.
“We are building a fully integrated, AI-native therapeutics company. The same platform that learns how cells respond to signals can help design better protocols, improve manufacturability, optimize functional dose, and deepen our understanding of how development decisions relate to clinical outcomes,” Micha Breakstone, CEO and co-founder of Cellular Intelligence, said in a statement. “STEM-PD gives us the ideal testing ground for this vision. »
Bloomberg reports that Cellular Intelligence plans to launch an interim trial of the therapy early next year. The company also plans to use data from the trials to improve its AI models.
For its part, Novo Nordisk is making a strategic capital investment in the startup and remains eligible for future milestone payments and royalties if processing advances.
The deal comes after Novo Nordisk decided last year to end its cell therapy research and development work as part of a broader restructuring, focusing on treatments for diabetes and obesity.
At the start of Ozempic’s boom, Novo Nordisk became the most valuable company in Europe. But it has since faced increasing competition from rivals like Eli Lilly, as well as cheaper compounded and copied versions of GLP-1 drugs sold online.
“At the time, we announced that we would seek agreements for some of our cell therapy programs to be advanced by partners,” a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “This agreement with Cellular Intelligence will support the continued development of the potential cellular therapy for Parkinson’s disease pioneered by Novo Nordisk, and we believe Cellular Intelligence has the capabilities to advance it further. »
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