Novo Nordisk and Combine in research collaboration for the treatment of autoimmune diseases

Novo Nordisk and the Swedish university consortium Combine have announced a research collaboration in the
field of autoimmune diseases.

Under the agreement, Novo Nordisk will work with scientists from the six universities that make up the Combine
consortium, to develop a better understanding of how the immune system responds in patients with autoimmune
diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus.

The aim will be to develop novel therapies for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The collaboration will also
work on determining why certain patients do not respond to current treatments and how autoimmune diseases
develop over time. It is hoped this can lead to the development of more targeted treatments, which can be used to
treat particular groups of patients.

The agreement allows relevant Combine members to test Novo Nordisk preclinical development compounds in patient
tissue samples. Such samples are routinely collected by Combine members from patients with autoimmune disease.
Additionally, blood samples from patients with autoimmune diseases who are being treated with conventional
therapies will be analysed for specific biomarkers to help understand why some patients respond to a particular
therapy and why others do not.

The collaboration will run for an initial period of two years, and covers three projects. The collaboration can
be expanded to contain more projects if needed. The financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

“We see this as a unique and innovative way of working with the academic community to help find better ways of
treating patients suffering from severe inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis,” Terje Kalland, MD, PhD,
head of Novo Nordisk’s Biopharmaceuticals Research Unit, said.

“This collaboration has great potential for drug development for major diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis,
and as a model for collaboration between the academic community, clinical care and the pharmaceutical industry,”
said Lars Klareskog, project coordinator at Combine and principal investigator at the Karolinska Institutet.

For further information, please contact:

Novo Nordisk
Rachel Curtis Gravesen
Tel: (+45) 4442 7603
rcgv@novonordisk.com

or
 
Combine
Lars Klareskog
Tel: (+46) 8 5177 4529
lars.klareskog@ki.se