California-based medtech firm Vivani Medical (Nasdaq: VANI) has signed an agreement with Novo Nordisk granting the Danish company access to evaluate NPM-139, a miniature subcutaneous semaglutide implant designed for once- or twice-yearly dosing in chronic weight management. The deal carries no financial terms and includes no exclusivity provisions — Vivani retains full freedom to approach other partners with the same asset and platform.
The agreement arrives days after Vivani received ethics committee approval in Australia to initiate SLIM-1, a Phase I first-in-human study of NPM-139 with Wegovy injections as an active comparator. That trial will characterize safety, pharmacokinetics, and tolerability of the implant, with top-line results expected by year-end 2026.
NPM-139 uses Vivani's NanoPortal platform to deliver semaglutide — the active molecule in Novo Nordisk's own Wegovy and Ozempic — as a controlled-release subdermal depot over an extended period. The platform's clinical proof-of-concept was established through LIBERATE-1, a Phase I study of NPM-115, an exenatide-based implant, which completed enrollment and reported encouraging results in 2025. NPM-139 is the semaglutide-specific successor.
Deal context
The structure is more akin to a material transfer or feasibility agreement than a licensing deal. Novo Nordisk is being permitted to conduct an internal, non-exclusive evaluation — no upfront payment, milestones, royalties, or equity are involved. The explicit disclosure that there are no exclusivity provisions is unusual in a deal with the originator of the molecule being implanted: Novo Nordisk is accepting a non-exclusive position on a delivery system built around its own drug.
The evaluation agreement was signed concurrent with Vivani's Phase I initiation, suggesting Novo Nordisk wants to assess the technology before human data exist — positioning itself to negotiate a formal option or license once SLIM-1 results are available, at which point the asset's price would be higher.