LONDON, Dec. 09, 2025today announced a multi-program, strategic collaboration with Novartis to discover and advance novel targets for atopic diseases.
Under the terms of the agreement, Relation will receive $55 million, comprising an upfront payment, equity investment and additional R&D funding. In addition, Relation is eligible to receive preclinical, development, regulatory, and commercial sales milestones of up to $1.7 billion, along with tiered royalties on net sales of products.
The collaboration pairs Relation's AI-powered drug discovery platform and human data generation capabilities with Novartis's deep expertise in immuno-dermatology to identify, validate, and advance potential first-in-class targets in atopic diseases driven by immune dysregulation.
"Atopic diseases affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Our technology defines the molecular pathways in diseased tissue compared to healthy tissue to help discover possible new therapeutics for medicines. Together with Novartis's development and commercialization capabilities, we can potentially deliver medicines that transform the standard of care," said David Roblin, Chief Executive Officer of Relation.
Relation's Lab-in-the-Loop platform integrates state-of-the-art AI with patient-derived multi-omic data and proprietary experimental systems to uncover causal genes and refine target hypotheses. As part of the collaboration, Relation will lead observational studies that generate functional cell atlases - directly from the tissue of patients - capturing the disease state in humans with unprecedented resolution. This approach reduces the risk of clinical failure by ensuring targets are robustly validated before entering the clinic. Novartis will have worldwide development and commercialisation rights to any resulting targets.
"At Novartis, we are dedicated to harnessing cutting-edge, AI-driven approaches that enhance novel target identification and accelerate drug discovery, delivering innovative medicines for patients in need," said Fiona H. Marshall, Ph.D., President, Biomedical Research, Novartis. "Our collaboration with Relation will combine complementary expertise, technologies and capabilities to advance new options for patients living with atopic diseases."
About Relation
Relation is a technology-enabled biopharmaceutical company developing medicines across immunology, metabolic and bone diseases. The company builds AI and experimental systems, across the drug development cycle, all under the central theme of capitalising on better biological understanding.
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