Zealand Pharma is joining forces with Generate Biomedicines in a strategic collaboration aimed at developing next-generation protein-based treatments for obesity and other metabolic diseases, as drugmakers increasingly explore new approaches to tackle complex conditions.

 

The collaboration will combine Zealand Pharma’s expertise in metabolic health with Generate’s AI-powered protein engineering capabilities to design and develop multispecific protein therapeutics using The Generate Platform, which integrates generative AI with high-throughput experimental validation.

 

The partnership aims to accelerate the development of innovative treatments by using artificial intelligence to engineer proteins and experimental data to refine their designs toward specific biological functions.

 

For Zealand Pharma, the deal marks an expansion of its drug-development capabilities beyond its existing small-molecule and peptide platforms, opening the door to new therapeutic approaches that target multiple biological pathways.

 

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Generate, a leader in AI and structure-enabled drug generation. This collaboration expands our toolbox to include proteins, complementing our existing small-molecule and peptide capabilities and opening new approaches for polypharmacology for innovative therapeutics,” said Utpal Singh, Chief Scientific Officer at Zealand Pharma. 

 

“This collaboration reflects our strategy of expanding our platform and integrating our metabolic expertise in Copenhagen with the multi-modality expertise in Cambridge to develop next-generation therapeutics for metabolic health.”

 

Generate Biomedicines will bring its computational platform and experimental capabilities to the partnership, combining AI-driven protein design with laboratory validation to develop candidates tailored to specific therapeutic goals.

 

The companies said their initial work will focus on defining the desired characteristics of medicines for two initial programmes before using Generate’s platform to design multispecific candidates that meet or exceed those targets.

 

“We are excited to bring together Zealand Pharma’s deep expertise in peptide therapeutics and metabolic disease with Generate’s cutting-edge computational platform and experimental capabilities to address the continued unmet medical need for patients with cardiometabolic disease,” said Mike Nally, chief executive officer of Generate. 

 

“Together, our teams will first define what a great medicine for patients looks like for each of the two initial programs, and then leverage The Generate Platform to design multispecific candidates that meet or exceed that profile.”

 

The collaboration underscores the growing role of AI-driven protein engineering in drug discovery, particularly as biotechnology companies seek new ways to develop treatments for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.