Novartis struck a strategic collaboration with London AI‑enabled biotech Relation in a deal worth up to $1.7 billion to discover and advance targets for atopic diseases. Novartis will fund observational human tissue studies and hold worldwide rights to development and commercialization; Relation receives $55 million in upfront cash, equity and R&D support and will generate patient‑derived multiomic cell atlases under the pact. Relation will lead the lab‑in‑the‑loop discovery work that integrates AI algorithms with patient tissue and multiomic assays, while Novartis contributes late‑stage development, regulatory and commercial capabilities. The partners framed the deal as a push to translate causal targets identified in diseased tissues into therapeutic programs more rapidly. Clarification: ‘Lab‑in‑the‑loop’ refers to iterative cycles where AI models propose hypotheses that are experimentally tested on patient‑derived systems, and results feed back to refine models. The collaboration underscores Big Pharma’s continued deployment of AI-enabled target discovery paired with drug‑development muscle.