Novo Nordisk partners with OpenAI to speed development of new weight loss drugs
The Danish company responsible for the popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy announced this week that it is partnering with OpenAI, the developer of artificial intelligence behind ChatGPT.
In a statement, Novo Nordisk said it would be using OpenAI’s technology to “bring new and better treatment options to patients faster,” by using AI to identify new drug candidates and reduce the time necessary for research, and identify candidates who would benefit from its GLP-1 agonists and their primary active ingredient semaglutide.
The announcement comes after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval for an oral weight loss drug from competitor Eli Lilly, another GLP-1, marketed as Foundayo.
Wegovy was the first such oral obesity medication to be approved for use by the FDA. Ozempic is administered as an injection. While Novo Nordisk did not specifically say what type of product it is looking to bring to market next through the FDA’s speedy approval process, it did specifically mention those products as central to the partnership with OpenAI.
“This partnership is one important step in positioning Novo Nordisk to lead in the next era of healthcare. There are millions of people living with obesity and diabetes who need treatment options, and we know there are therapies still waiting to be discovered that could change their lives,” Mike Doustdar, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, said in a statement.
Notably, some of these GLP-1 medications are exclusively approved to manage blood glucose levels, not to facilitate weight loss. For many of those secondary uses, patients need to buy them out-of-pocket without the benefit of insurance, as they’re sometimes technically an off-label use.
However, these are powerful drugs that could have other medical uses that extend beyond the treatment of diabetes and reducing hunger signals to encourage the body to burn fat. They could help with illnesses like fatty liver disease, or with reducing fat around organs—such potential uses are still being studied.
Regardless, AI could help to pinpoint these and other unseen benefits, which would allow Novo Nordisk to gather the necessary data to expand the uses for Wegovy or Ozempic, or to bring similar products to market.
“Integrating AI in our everyday work gives us the ability to analyse datasets at a scale that was previously impossible, identify patterns we could not see, and test hypotheses faster than ever. This means discovering new therapies and bringing them to market faster than ever before,” Doustdar added.
FDA issues formal warning
The announcement comes shortly after the FDA scolded Novo Nordisk for allegedly failing to disclose the serious adverse events and side effects associated with its GLP-1 medications, which include patient deaths.
The letter, sent in March, stated that the pharmaceutical group failed to report these incidents within the 15-day window required by federal regulations.
In response, the company said it was looking to improve its reporting time to ensure it’s in compliance.
The FDA stopped short of saying the drugs caused the serious side effects. Instead, such reporting is done to monitor trends in an ongoing effort to monitor risks to patient safety.
Chad is an award-winning writer and editor with over 15 years of experience working in media. He has a decade-long professional background in healthcare, working as a writer and in public relations.