US pharma giant Eli Lilly, Insilico Medicine secure deal worth $2.75 billion to bring AI-developed drugs to market
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced on Sunday (local time) that it has reached a $2.75 billion deal to bring drugs to the global market using artificial intelligence (AI) from Hong Kong-listed Insilico Medicine.
Eli Lilly-Insilico deal
CNBC Under the deal, Insilico will receive $115 million upfront, with additional payments contingent on regulatory approvals and commercial milestones, as well as royalties on future sales, the companies announced Monday.
In addition, under the agreement, Lilly will receive an exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize Insilico Medicine’s preclinical oral drug candidates in selected disease areas, the Hong Kong-listed company said in a regulatory filing.
At least 28 Insilico drugs developed using Gen AI: CEO
Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico, said the Hong Kong-listed prolific AI drug developer has developed at least 28 drugs so far using its generative AI tools, roughly half of which are already in the clinical stage. CNBC. The shares of the company, which went public in Hong Kong in December last year, have increased by more than 50% since the beginning of the year. Zhavoronkov added that Lilly has outperformed Insilico in many ways, noting that the US pharmaceutical giant has “one person” who has successfully integrated biology, chemistry and automation into a single framework. He also noted that as part of the deal, Insilico will become part of Lilly’s Gateway Labs community for biotechnology development.
Lilly and Insilico have been working together since 2023 following the signing of an AI-based software licensing agreement.
Zhavoronkov said Insilico is developing AI technologies outside China, particularly in Canada and the Middle East, and is conducting early-stage preclinical drug development studies in China based on this research. Beyond shortening research timelines, AI can produce and synthesize molecules faster than traditional discovery methods, he added.
Eli Lilly talks about collaboration with Insilico
“This collaboration allows us to discover new mechanisms and accelerate the identification of promising therapeutic candidates across many disease areas,” Andrew Adams, group vice president of Molecule Discovery at Lilly, said in a statement. He described the Hong Kong-listed company’s AI-powered discovery as a strong complement to Lilly’s clinical development capabilities.
Lilly announces plans to invest $3 billion in China
The company’s CEO, David A. Ricks, attended a high-level forum in Beijing earlier this month, shortly after Lilly announced plans to invest $3 billion in China over the next decade. The company also reported that just under three percent of its revenue last year came from China. The US pharmaceutical giant also announced plans to increase production capacities and local supply chains in the country, thereby deepening the footprint of foreign pharmaceutical companies in the world’s second largest healthcare market.
Pharmaceutical companies focus on AI to boost R&D
According to Reuters, pharmaceutical companies are now increasingly turning to AI to boost research and development and relying on advanced modeling tools and automated laboratories to increase efficiency across production lines. This shift is also in line with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) efforts to reduce animal testing in the near future.
