Cellular Intelligence, an AI drug startup backed by Mark Zuckerberg, said Monday that it has reached a “defining moment.”
The Boston-based startup announced that it has acquired global rights to STEM-PD, an experimental Parkinson’s disease cell therapy program from Novo Nordisk, the Danish drugmaker 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 the 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 meant to become dopamine-producing neurons. It is currently being tested in a first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trial and has received FDA Fast Track Designation.
Cellular Intelligence now plans to use its AI platform to push the treatment through further clinical development, manufacturing, and, if successful, commercialization. The deal gives the startup a chance to prove whether its technology, and AI more broadly, can actually help accelerate the development of complicated treatments like STEM-PD.
“We are building an AI-native, fully integrated 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 connect to clinical outcomes,” said Cellular Intelligence CEO and Co-founder Micha Breakstone in a statement. “STEM-PD gives us the ideal proving ground for that vision.”
Bloomberg reports that Cellular Intelligence plans to start a mid-stage 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 equity investment in the startup and remains eligible for future milestone payments and royalties if the treatment advances.
The deal comes after Novo Nordisk decided last year to wind down its cell therapy research and development work as part of a broader restructuring, shifting its focus to diabetes and obesity treatments.
During the early Ozempic boom, Novo Nordisk became the most valuable company in Europe. But it has since faced growing competition from rivals like Eli Lilly, as well as cheaper compounded and copycat versions of GLP-1 drugs sold online.
“At the time, we announced that we would be seeking deals 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 cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease pioneered by Novo Nordisk, and we believe that Cellular Intelligence has the capabilities needed to advance it further.”
