Cellular Intelligence Nabs Investment, Parkinson’s Cell Therapy Program from Novo Nordisk
The Danish pharma giant is handing over rights to its FDA fast-tracked therapy program, which it abandoned in late 2025.
Cellular Intelligence, a startup combining the use of single-cell assays and AI modeling, has acquired global rights to Novo Nordisk’s cell therapy program for Parkinson’s disease.
Under the terms of the agreement, announced May 11, Denmark’s Novo Nordisk will make an equity investment in Cellular Intelligence for an undisclosed amount and remains eligible for future milestones and royalties. Other financial terms were not disclosed.
The program centers on an allogeneic pluripotent stem cell-derived dopaminergic progenitor therapy that is currently enrolled in a first-in-human Phase 1/2 clinical trial. The therapy holds FDA Fast Track Designation and IND clearance for further clinical development.
The deal provides a potential path forward for the therapy after Novo Nordisk abandoned cell therapy efforts company-wide in late 2025.
“Finding the right steward for the program was critical, and we are convinced that Cellular Intelligence has the capabilities needed to advance it further,” Jacob Petersen, senior VP of Global Research at Novo Nordisk, said in a statement. “The convergence of developmental biology and genomics, and the possibility of combining this with AI on a single platform, provide an exciting opportunity in medicine in general, and for the cell therapy field in particular.”
Boston-based Cellular Intelligence, formerly known as Somite Therapeutics, said it intends to use its AI platform to accelerate clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization.
The company has licensed IP from Harvard University developed in Cofounder Allon Klein’s lab covering technology that encapsulates single cells while allowing repeated exposures to different conditions. University of Washington researcher Jay Shendure is also a cofounder. Cellular Intelligence intends to pair the capsules with AI foundation models to help it capture and decode the chemical signals that turn stem cells into other cells.
“Optimizing and scaling complex cell therapy programs to reach patients globally is exactly the challenge our AI-native platform was built to solve,” Cellular Intelligence CEO and Cofounder Micha Breakstone said in a statement.
The company added that data generated through this program will be used to further train the foundation model, with potential applications across cell therapy and regenerative medicine.
In connection with the deal, Cellular Intelligence is appointing Nuno Mendonça as Chief Medical Officer to lead the program’s clinical advancement. Mendonça, a neurologist, brings senior clinical development experience at Bial, AbbVie and Novartis Gene Therapies.
Cellular Intelligence has raised more than $60 million to date from investors including Khosla Ventures, CZI, SciFi VC, and AMD Ventures.