Novo, which is under pressure to diversify and signaled plans to cut jobs back in August, will lay off 400 people as it reallocates resources to more efficiently bring in novel products through both R&D and business development, continuing a deal-making spree that's already under way.

Being able to move therapeutic molecules for diabetes and other metabolic diseases into the CNS is the aim of a research collaboration and option agreement between Novo Nordisk and the six-year-old US biotech, Ossianix.

Evotec’s multimodality approach to drug discovery landed the biotech two new discovery collaborations this week, underscoring its emphasis on patient-driven data.