How Novo Nordisk partners with academia, biotech companies and beyond
Novo Nordisk began with a one-dollar insulin license. Today, it’s a global giant fighting more than just diabetes. Obesity, cardiovascular disease, and other interlinked conditions are on Novo’s radar, too.
In this article, you’ll explore how Novo Nordisk is evolving its collaboration model and how you can get involved through its four-track Science2Medicine program.
What you will find on this page
Meet BaseLaunch
Our mission is to further grow the biotech ecosystem in the Basel Area, one of the world’s premier life sciences hubs.
We provide groundbreaking startups with the funding, expertise, and infrastructure they need to transform their ideas into industry-shaping solutions. So far, we’ve supported companies that have collectively raised over $1 billion in follow-on financing.
We also collaborate with industry leaders, domain experts, and organizations to create opportunities for knowledge exchange and partnerships. Events like this webinar are a key part of that vision, bringing together thought leaders to tackle the challenges and opportunities shaping the future of biotech.
Meet the experts
Daniel Timmermann, PhD
VP of Innovation Outreach, Global Drug Discovery
Daniel introduced Novo Nordisk’s legacy in metabolic health and shared how the company is evolving its approach to external innovation.
William Haynes, PhD
Scientific Corporate VP
William (Bill) Haynes presented Novo Nordisk’s R&D strategy, focusing on unmet needs and translational opportunities in cardiometabolic diseases.
Joerg Hoeck, PhD
Director, Innovation Outreach, External & Exploratory Innovation
Joerg introduced the Science2Medicine program, explaining how it helps academics and startups engage with Novo Nordisk through flexible funding, mentoring, and strategic support across four tracks.
Itai Kela, PhD
Director, Partnership Management, External & Exploratory Innovation
As part of Novo Nordisk’s partnership management team, he focuses on building and sustaining early-stage collaborations across the innovation ecosystem.
Neil Anderson, PhD
Sr. Director, Early Innovation, Outreach & Alliances
Neil presented Novo Nordisk’s Invest program, which makes equity investments in early-stage biotechs aligned with the company’s therapeutic areas to build long-term strategic partnerships.
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The Novo Nordisk story
A little bit of history first.
Novo Nordisk began with the man in the image above, Dr. August Krogh. He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1920 for his seminal work on the capillary physiology of mammals.
August wasn’t a diabetologist or a scientist working in metabolic disease. But his wife, Marie Krogh, who’s also shown in this picture, was diagnosed with (as we know now type 1) diabetes. In that time, diabetes was untreatable and often fatal.
The Nobel Prize brought August and Marie on a lecture tour to North America in 1922. During that trip, they visited the University of Toronto, where they met Frederick Banting, Charles Best, and John Macleod. These were the scientists who, just a year earlier in 1921, had discovered insulin and shown that it was the hormone missing in people with diabetes.
August Krogh made a deal with the University of Toronto and returned to Denmark carrying an exclusive license for the manufacture and distribution of insulin in the Nordic countries.
The licensing deal was made for the symbolic sum of one Canadian dollar.
”These were indeed very different times when it came to dealmaking. Times that some of us in this room might wish were still around today. But that’s how the journey started. The rest, as they say, is history.
Daniel Timmermann
Novo Nordisk today
Over the last 25 years, Novo Nordisk has transformed from a small-town regional player into a global healthcare leader. Today, Novo Nordisk:
- Supplies approximately half of the world’s insulin
- Operates in more than 80 countries
- Employs over 60,000 people worldwide
Novo Nordisk has sharpened its focus on a set of interlinked therapeutic areas. These are diseases with enormous unmet needs, often chronic, complex, and overlapping:
- Diabetes
Building on its legacy, Novo continues to push for new treatments that go beyond glucose control, exploring how to prevent, slow, or even reverse disease progression in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. - Obesity
Once overlooked as a lifestyle issue, obesity is now recognized as a serious, chronic disease. Novo is investing in approaches that target, for example, appetite regulation, energy balance, reward signaling, and long-term metabolic change. - Rare disease
Novo applies its biologics expertise to rare conditions like hemophilia, sickle cell disease, and other genetic or inflammatory disorders. - Cardiovascular & emerging therapy areas
With metabolic and vascular health deeply connected, Novo is moving into heart failure, atherosclerosis, kidney and liver disease (e.g., MASH), and other cardiometabolic complications. This includes exploring new mechanisms and modalities such as RNA therapeutics, gene editing, and regenerative medicine.
Novo’s partnering strategy
Novo doesn’t claim to be a world-leading expert in medicinal chemistry. Its stronghold is biologics, but the company is on a mission to do whatever it takes to find whatever therapeutic modality it needs to treat metabolic disease.
For that, Novo needs your help!
”The reason why we're here is that we know we cannot do this alone. The fact is that up until now, actually, the whole product portfolio of Novo has been homegrown. But this, we know, is not sustainable.
Joerg Hoeck
In recent years, the company has begun actively integrating its in-house capabilities with external innovation.
The shift reflects both ambition and necessity. While Novo remains committed to traditional business development tools like licensing and acquisitions, the company acknowledges that truly mature opportunities, especially in the cardiometabolic space, are increasingly hard to find.
Rather than waiting for innovation to become “deal-ready,” Novo is now engaging earlier in the scientific journey.
To support this shift, Novo Nordisk has developed a new toolbox for partnering: a growing set of programs, funding schemes, and support mechanisms designed for academic investigators, startups, and young biotechs. These initiatives provide not just financial backing but also access to Novo’s drug discovery expertise.
Novo wants to be the best possible partner at every stage of the innovation cycle.
While Novo Nordisk continues to make strategic acquisitions and late-stage deals, it’s also placing greater emphasis on collaborative, early-stage partnerships. It’s a recognition that developing tomorrow’s medicines will require working with the best minds, even if they are still in labs, just beginning their journey.
Science2Medicine
TRANSFORMATION STARTS HERE
Collaboration is absolutely crucial to give innovative ideas the best chances to succeed. That’s why Novo Nordisk has created its Science2Medicine program.
It’s a flexible collaboration framework designed to support innovators at every stage of drug discovery and development. It brings together academic partnerships, open innovation, entrepreneurship, incubation, and investment.
While the structure includes four defined tracks, the approach is adaptable. Novo is open to working with any promising idea, wherever it starts!
VALIDATIONN: Ready to put your scientific idea to the test?
This track gives Novo a way to engage with high-potential ideas early, without requiring a formal commitment. It helps identify promising science and builds trust with innovators before there’s even a company or licensing deal in place.
This program is for:
Academic researchers or innovators with an early-stage idea or hypothesis related to Novo Nordisk’s core areas who want to generate initial data or test a critical scientific question.
- Non-dilutive funding. Receive up to €50,000 in non-dilutive funding.
- Expert input. Benefit from mentoring and access to open innovation resources.
- Clear timelines. Generate critical data in 6–9 months, then discuss your next steps with Novo’s experts.
- Full transparency. Receive advice on further development or potential follow-up opportunities.
- IP remains yours. Keep all intellectual property and retain the freedom to publish.
Pathway to more. Move forward with your high-potential project into other Novo tracks for deeper collaboration.
How you get in:
The application process is light. You just have to submit a few pages outlining your hypothesis and experiment.
Question from the audience
What’s the typical timeline from ValidatioNN to further engagement, like creatioNN or iNNvest?
Projects in the validatioNN track typically run for 6–9 months. If the results are promising and align with Novo’s strategy, teams may be invited to continue through follow-on funding or enter other tracks like creatioNN or iNNvest. There’s no fixed pathway, but transitions can happen quickly when there’s strong momentum.
TRANSLATIONN: Solve big scientific/therapeutic challenges
This track allows Novo to connect with world-class academic groups on high-priority, emerging scientific questions, often years before that research might reach industry through traditional licensing channels.
This program is for:
Established academic researchers working on advanced, disease-relevant science that has the potential to lead to new therapies. It’s ideal for labs aiming to move beyond basic research into translational territory.
Question from the audience
How are projects selected for the roundtable discussions? Is there a formal application process?
Roundtable participants are selected by invitation. Novo identifies researchers working in areas of strategic scientific interest and brings them into small, topic-focused symposia.
You get:
To present your research directly to Novo Nordisk! You’ll receive tailored feedback, gain early insight into Novo’s translational priorities, and engage in in-depth discussions on shared therapeutic challenges. You’ll even have the chance to co-develop a proposal with Novo, opening the door to a funded partnership, mentorship from industry experts, and long-term scientific collaboration.
How you get in:
Once a year, researchers are invited to join topic-specific symposia hosted by Novo Nordisk, where key areas of interest are explored in depth. From these meetings, selected participants are invited to collaboratively create and submit proposals. If a project moves forward, it can lead to a long-term partnership.
CREATIONN: Advance your biotech
This track lets Novo engage with high-potential startups at the earliest stage, often before traditional partnerships or investments are possible. It’s a way to build long-term relationships, support breakthrough science, and help shape the ecosystem from the ground up, without asking for ownership.
This program is for:
Early-stage biotech startups working on scientific innovations aligned with Novo Nordisk’s focus areas, especially when moving from idea to company formation.
- Elite incubator access. Join one of the world’s leading biotech incubators.
- Lab space. Access one year of fully equipped, rent-free lab space.
- Network connections. Tap into a strong local ecosystem of startups, investors, and innovation partners.
- IP remains yours. Retain full ownership of your intellectual property with complete freedom to publish or license.
- Expert mentoring. Get hands-on support from Novo Nordisk scientists and innovation experts throughout your journey.
How you get in:
When Novo opens its application call, you need to submit a short proposal outlining your science, your team, and how your work addresses an unmet need in cardiometabolic or rare disease.
Another way that Novo engages with earliest stage startups is through BaseLaunch, a company creation vehicle that Novo has partnered with, that launches, finances and grows new biotech companies towards raising a series A financing.
INNVEST: Equity investments in promising biotechs within cardiometabolism
For a long time, Novo Nordisk had a gap when it came to engaging with early-stage companies. This track fills that gap by offering equity investment to early-stage biotechs. It also allows Novo to help shape innovation in areas where traditional venture funding has historically been limited.
This program is for:
Early-stage biotech companies (typically at the seed or Series A stage) developing innovations aligned with Novo Nordisk’s focus areas, such as cardiometabolic diseases, obesity, or rare conditions.
You get:
Up to $7 million in direct equity investments, as well as strategic and scientific guidance!
Question from the audience
Do you ever fund ideas that fall slightly outside Novo Nordisk’s stated focus areas?
While Novo Nordisk is focused on cardiometabolic and rare diseases, the company is open to adjacent areas if there’s a clear connection to its long-term scientific priorities. If a project offers high translational potential or a compelling biological rationale, Novo is willing to be flexible, especially in early-stage engagements.
How you get in:
Unlike a traditional venture arm, Novo’s Invest program is not driven by financial return. Instead, it backs companies that are strategically relevant to its long-term pipeline. The team actively scouts and evaluates opportunities and may lead or join rounds where alignment is strong.
Question from the audience
Is it possible to apply to multiple Science2Medicine tracks at once—or shift between them?
Yes. The framework is designed to be flexible. The four tracks (validatioNN, translatioNN, creatioNN, iNNvest) are meant to meet innovators at different stages. Applicants can shift between them as their project evolves, and Novo Nordisk will guide the best fit as part of the collaboration process.
Come to our next event and join the discussion!
Whether you’re a founder looking for a partner, a researcher exploring translational opportunities, or an investor scouting early innovation, these events are built to help you start conversations that lead somewhere.
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