Lumen Bioscience and Novo Nordisk Collaborate on Research of Biologics for Cardiometabolic Disease

Lumen Bioscience, a clinical-stage biopharma company developing biologic drugs for prevalent diseases, will collaborate with Novo Nordisk. Lumen’s drug development and manufacturing platform will combine with Novo Nordisk’s research and development activities focused on obesity and metabolic disorders.

The collaboration builds on research pointing to a diversity of relevant biology within the gastrointestinal tract that can potentially be modulated with therapeutic proteins. Lumen’s spirulina-based drug development environment unlocks the potential of orally delivered biologic drugs by manufacturing them with the scalability and affordability more typical of small-molecule drugs. 

“Novo Nordisk is a world leading metabolic disease company, and we are thrilled that they share our enthusiasm for new strategies for delivering oral biologics and bio products,” said Brian Finrow, Lumen’s CEO. “This collaboration brings the best of two worlds together: Lumen’s expertise in large-scale, affordable manufacturing of orally delivered biologic drugs and Novo Nordisk’s expertise in the clinical development and commercialization of treatments for cardiometabolic disease.”

The initial stages of the research collaboration will take place over approximately one year. During this period Lumen and Novo Nordisk will jointly develop and evaluate the bioactivity of metabolically relevant molecules produced and delivered using spirulina.