Novartis agreed to pay Antares Therapeutics $105 million upfront under a multi-year collaboration to discover small-molecule programs against cancer targets considered “undruggable.” The deal totals up to $1.9 billion across development, regulatory and commercial milestones, with tiered royalties on resulting products. Antares, a spinout from Scorpion Therapeutics, will apply its small-molecule discovery engine to uncover candidates directed to targets beyond conventional druggability assumptions. The partnership adds to Novartis’ oncology strategy as the Swiss company seeks to deepen pipeline capabilities beyond radiopharmaceuticals and build additional modalities. The collaboration is positioned as the biotech’s first new partnership since spinning out, and analysts will watch what target classes emerge from Antares’ discovery workflow and how quickly programs progress toward clinic. The immediate biotech implication is liquidity and runway support for early-stage discovery, while Novartis gains structured access to new chemistry opportunities tied to clear development gates.