Shares of Septerna, Inc. (SEPN) soared over 50% on Wednesday morning after pharma giant Novo Nordisk (NVO) reached a $2.2 billion deal with Septerna to develop a GLP-1 weight-loss drug in the form of an oral pill.
SEPN is currently trading at $10.25, up $3.52 or 52.36%, on a huge volume of 20 million shares, above average volume of 0.5 million, on the Nasdaq. The stock opened its trading at $10.82 after closing Tuesday at $6.73. The stock has traded between $4.17 and $28.99 in the past 52-week period.
Septerna and Novo Nordisk announced an exclusive global collaboration and license agreement to discover, develop and commercialise oral small molecule medicines for obesity, type 2 diabetes and other cardiometabolic diseases.
The companies will initially commence four development programmes for potential small molecule therapies directed to one or more select G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, including the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors.
Under the terms of the agreement, Septerna is eligible to receive approximately $2.2 billion from Novo Nordisk across an upfront payment and research, development and commercial milestone payments.
This includes more than 200 million dollars in upfront and near-term milestone payments. Septerna is also eligible to receive tiered royalties on global net sales of marketed products. Novo Nordisk will cover all research and development expenses for partnered programs under the collaboration.
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