Blog

After 10 years of supporting nearly 300 startups at LabCentral, there are special moments we never tire of. Witnessing our resident companies’ big inflection points, such as closing a Series A, filing their first IND, or forming a strategic partnership, makes all our work worth it. Today we’re celebrating one of those moments, a partnership between our resident company, Gensaic and our long-time sponsor, NovoNordisk.  

Gensaic started out at the Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab in 2021, starting its journey in engineering phage particles to achieve tissue-selective, redosable gene therapy. By 2022 they were recipients of the Novo Nordisk Golden Ticket ––an honor that comes with $50,000 in funding and, more importantly, a direct line to Novo Nordisk’s world-class team. Having a connection to their expertise that early on would prove pivotal for a scaling biotech startup.  

When NovoNordisk first heard Gensaic’s pitch, they were intrigued. Their science was compelling, and their vision was bold. But at that moment, the stars hadn’t quite aligned for a partnership. That could have been the end of the story. However, as Gensaic kept growing and evolving, NovoNordisk knew that their time had come. Today, Gensaic announced a collaboration with NovoNordisk that seeks to leverage Gensaic’s proprietary FORGE™ engine for tissue-selective intracellular delivery of therapeutic molecules. Under the agreement, Gensaic is eligible to receive up to $354 million in upfront payments, development, and commercial milestones per target plus tiered royalties. Novo Nordisk also will reimburse research and development costs, participate in a future financing round, and a Novo Nordisk executive will join Gensaic’s board as a non-voting observing member. 

When asked about their journey, CEO & Co-founder of Gensaic, Lavi Erisson said, “Innovation thrives when creative minds find the space and resources to pursue bold ideas. LabCentral created that environment for Gensaic, allowing us to bring from concept to reality our AI-guided FORGE™ engine for tissue-selective, intracellular delivery of therapeutic molecules. Now, with Novo Nordisk’s partnership, we’re taking the next critical step toward delivering precision therapies that could fundamentally change treatment paradigms for metabolic and age-related indications. This journey showcases that it takes a community of partners to drive biotech innovation.”  

In the biotech world, things move fast. For many biotech startups, early pharma connections are essential to scaling up. They rely on that expertise to guide their business while they focus on their groundbreaking work. NovoNordisk saw potential early on with Gensaic, and kept in touch with them as they continued to grow. And now, that early recognition, that first spark of belief, has transformed into a full-fledged partnership between Gensaic and Novo Nordisk. 

We could not be prouder. This is why we do what we do. LabCentral is here to give startups the space, the resources, and the connections they need to thrive—and to watch moments like this unfold.