Novartis struck a research and licensing collaboration with Unnatural Products to apply UNP’s AI‑guided macrocyclic peptide platform against cardiovascular targets, a deal that could deliver up to $1.8 billion in milestones. Novartis will handle IND-enabling studies, clinical development and global commercialization while UNP contributes its discovery engine combining AI design, massively parallel synthesis and direct-to-biology screening. UNP received $100 million upfront and near-term milestones under earlier reports; the tie-up highlights pharma’s continued interest in modalities that can address traditionally undruggable targets and shows large-cap companies buying platform‑level access rather than single assets.