Novo Nordisk has signed a deal worth up to $1bn with Lexicon Pharmaceuticals for the exclusive global rights to LX9851, an experimental oral treatment for obesity and related metabolic disorders.
Under the agreement, Lexicon will complete certain preclinical activities before Novo Nordisk takes over development, manufacturing, and commercialisation.
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Lexicon will receive $75m in upfront and near-term milestone payments, with the potential to earn up to $1bn in total, including development, regulatory, and sales-based milestones.
Following the announcement, Lexicon’s stock has soared by 85%, from a market close of $0.35 yesterday (27 March) to a market open of $0.65 today. Novo Nordisk’s stock has remained stable on the news.
LX9851 targets Acyl-CoA Synthetase 5 (ACSL5), an enzyme involved in fat metabolism and energy balance. Preclinical data presented at Obesity Week in Texas, US in November 2024 suggested that combining LX9851 with Novo Nordisk’s flagship drug semaglutide, marketed as Ozempic in type 2 diabetes and Wegovy in obesity, led to greater weight loss and reductions in food intake and fat mass compared to semaglutide alone. The data also indicates that LX9851 could help prevent weight regain after stopping semaglutide treatment.
In the announcement accompanying the deal, Novo Nordisk’s diabetes, obesity and MASH therapeutic areas senior vice president Jacob Sten Petersen said: “We are pleased to enter this agreement with Lexicon as it will allow us to explore a novel biology and potential treatment paradigm further.”
The deal comes as Novo Nordisk moves to strengthen its position in the obesity treatment market, which is projected to reach $206.5bn by 2031, according to a report on GlobalData’s Pharma Intelligence Center. The Danish pharma giant has dominated the space with its blockbuster glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) Wegovy but faces increasing competition from Eli Lilly’s Zepbound (tirzepatide) due to Zepbound’s slightly better efficacy.
Zepbound is forecast to make $28.2bn by 2031 while Wegovy is slated to see sales of $26bn, according to analysis by GlobalData.
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There has been an increasing demand for weight-loss treatments, especially oral candidates that would be easier to administer. In January 2025, UK-based Verdiva Bio launched with $410m and a pipeline of next-generation oral and injectable therapies.
Novo Nordisk has been actively expanding its obesity and metabolic disease pipeline. The Lexicon agreement follows the company’s $2bn acquisition of a “triple-G” injectable obesity drug UBT251 from China-based United Laboratories earlier this week (25 March). UBT251 generated positive data in a randomised Phase Ib trial in China. 36 patients that received a subcutaneous 6mg dose of the drug over 12 weeks, reported an average weight loss of 15.1%.
In January 2025, Novo Nordisk also invested $50m upfront in Variant Bio to explore genetic targets for obesity and metabolic diseases. In March, Novo Nordisk signed a deal with AI-driven protein design company Gensaic to develop tissue-targeted therapies for cardiometabolic diseases.
