Novartis has signed a multi-program collaboration with London-based Relation Therapeutics to discover and advance targets for atopic diseases, the companies said. The deal includes an upfront package and R&D funding and could deliver up to $1.7 billion in milestones plus tiered royalties; Relation will run patient-derived observational studies to generate disease 'functional cell atlases.' Relation will contribute its Lab‑in‑the‑Loop AI platform and human-data generation capabilities while Novartis retains worldwide development and commercialization rights for resulting targets. The partners said the arrangement aims to shorten target validation by combining patient tissue atlases with Relation’s AI to prioritize causal genes before preclinical work. The pact follows a wave of Big Pharma bets on AI-enabled discovery and signals continued pharma appetite for smaller, tech‑driven biotech partners that can supply human‑centric data and rapid target triage.