Novartis executed a strategic partnership to license Unnatural Products’ macrocyclic peptide platform, paying $100 million upfront with the deal carrying potential payments rising to roughly $1.7 billion for cardiovascular applications. The transaction gives Novartis exclusive access to a discovery engine for constrained peptides that can address challenging targets. The deal signals large pharma appetite for next‑generation modalities—macrocycles can combine peptide specificity with drug‑like properties—and underscores business development activity targeting modality expansion. Unnatural Products retains pre‑IND milestone rights and stands to benefit from development and sales milestones and royalties if lead programs advance.