Zealand Pharma partners with Generate Biomedicines on multispecific obesity proteins in $1.2B deal

Zealand Pharma has agreed to pay Generate Biomedicines $30 million up front to start work on multispecific protein drug candidates aimed at obesity and other metabolic disorders.

The agreement includes milestone payments that could lift the total value of the partnership to more than $1 billion, with up to $35 million tied to early preclinical achievements for the first two programs.

The collaboration adds a protein-based modality to Zealand’s obesity pipeline, which already features candidates partnered with Boehringer Ingelheim and Roche and builds on the company’s long history of peptide research.

Generate will use its AI-enabled platform to design and develop the multispecific proteins and will hand over lead candidates to Zealand for clinical development, after which Zealand will pay tiered royalties on worldwide net sales.