United Kingdom - 12 Dec 2025: UK-based biotech company Relation Therapeutics has announced a strategic, multi-program collaboration with Novartis aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new therapies for atopic diseases, a group of immune-driven conditions affecting hundreds of millions of people globally.
The partnership brings together Relation’s AI-enabled drug discovery platform and human data generation capabilities with Novartis’s established expertise in immuno-dermatology. Together, the companies will focus on identifying and advancing novel, first-in-class therapeutic targets designed to address the underlying immune dysregulation associated with atopic conditions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Relation will receive an initial financial package totalling $55 million, comprising upfront payments, equity investment, and research and development funding. The collaboration also includes the potential for additional milestone payments tied to preclinical, development, regulatory, and commercial progress, which could reach up to $1.7 billion. Tiered royalties on future product sales are also part of the agreement.
A key component of the collaboration is Relation’s proprietary “Lab-in-the-Loop” platform, which integrates artificial intelligence with patient-derived multi-omic data and experimental validation systems. This approach is designed to uncover causal disease genes and improve target selection by grounding discovery efforts in real human biology rather than relying solely on preclinical models.
As part of the partnership, Relation will lead observational studies to generate high-resolution functional cell atlases directly from patient tissue. These datasets aim to capture disease biology in its natural human context, helping to validate targets earlier in the drug development process and reduce the risk of late-stage clinical failure.
Novartis will hold global development and commercialisation rights to any therapeutic targets emerging from the collaboration, leveraging its scale and experience to advance promising programmes through clinical development and, potentially, to market.
The collaboration reflects a broader industry trend toward combining AI-driven discovery platforms with deep therapeutic expertise to improve drug development efficiency and success rates. It also highlights the growing role of UK-based biotech companies in shaping global pharmaceutical innovation through data-led and technology-driven approaches.
