Novartis funds Relation to find atopic-disease targets using AI and human data
This article covers Relation, a London biotech startup, signing a multi-programme collaboration with Novartis to identify and advance new therapeutic targets for atopic diseases. The deal pairs Relation's AI-driven human-data discovery platform with Novartis's immuno-dermatology expertise to improve human-relevant target validation and advance treatments for patients with atopic conditions.
Relation, a London biotech startup, has struck a multi-program collaboration with Novartis to identify and advance new therapeutic targets for atopic diseases. The deal pairs Relation’s AI-driven discovery and human data capabilities with Novartis’s immuno-dermatology expertise — a combination designed to improve target validation and reduce the risk of clinical failure.
Why it matters
Atopic diseases, including eczema and related inflammatory conditions, affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and remain an area of substantial unmet medical need. Drug discovery in immunology has a high attrition rate when targets are insufficiently validated in human tissue. This collaboration signals continued interest from large pharmaceutical companies in acquiring external capabilities that can accelerate target selection through human-derived data and AI.
For the UK biotech sector, the deal highlights how London-based technology-biopharma firms can attract global pharma partnerships by demonstrating robust human-data platforms and experimental throughput.
Inside the product
Relation says its Lab-in-the-Loop platform combines AI with patient-derived multi-omic datasets and proprietary experimental systems to identify causal genes and refine target hypotheses. The company plans to run observational studies that generate functional cell atlases from patient tissue, aiming to capture disease biology in humans with high resolution.
This approach is intended to improve confidence in target selection before entering preclinical and clinical development by linking molecular signatures directly to diseased tissue rather than relying solely on animal models or in vitro surrogates.
Relation also describes its overall pipeline focus across immunology, metabolic and bone diseases, positioning the platform to feed multiple therapeutic programmes.
Who are the investors?
Under the agreement, Novartis will provide Relation with funding that the company says totals £41.1m (reported as $55m) in a package made up of an upfront payment, an equity investment and additional R&D funding. Relation is also eligible for up to £1.3bn (reported as $1.7bn) in preclinical, development, regulatory and commercial sales milestones, plus tiered royalties on net sales.
Novartis will hold worldwide development and commercialisation rights to any targets that come out of the collaboration. The partnership is framed as a multi-program research collaboration combining Relation’s discovery platform and human-data generation with Novartis’s drug development and commercial infrastructure.
In the announcement, Fiona H. Marshall, Ph.D., President, Biomedical Research, Novartis, said:
At Novartis, we are dedicated to harnessing cutting-edge, AI-driven approaches that enhance novel target identification and accelerate drug discovery, delivering innovative medicines for patients in need. Our collaboration with Relation will combine complementary expertise, technologies and capabilities to advance new options for patients living with atopic diseases.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, David Roblin, Chief Executive Officer of Relation, said:
Atopic diseases affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Our technology defines the molecular pathways in diseased tissue compared to healthy tissue to help discover possible new therapeutics for medicines. Together with Novartis’s development and commercialization capabilities, we can potentially deliver medicines that transform the standard of care.
Roblin has framed the deal as validation of Relation’s human-data-first approach. For Relation, the collaboration brings not only funding but access to the development and commercial resources needed to advance any validated targets toward patients.
The bigger picture
This transaction is part of a broader pattern in Europe and the UK where large pharmaceutical companies are partnering with AI-enabled biotech firms to shore up their early discovery engines. Deals that combine patient-derived data, multi-omic profiling and machine learning are becoming a go-to strategy to de-risk early programmes and accelerate timelines.
For UK biotech, the deal underlines the value of building platforms that can produce human-relevant evidence and attract multinational partners. If successful, the work on atopic diseases could demonstrate a replicable route from human-data discovery to clinic-ready candidates, a pathway that investors and policy makers have highlighted as crucial for the region’s life sciences competitiveness.
The outcome will be watched closely by UK and European investors and startups exploring similar AI-driven discovery models, as the industry continues to test whether technology-led approaches can reduce late-stage failures and deliver new medicines.
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