Eli Lilly Partners to Launch AI-Developed Drugs Worldwide

BEIJING — U.S. pharmaceutical powerhouse Eli Lilly has entered into a $2.75 billion agreement to commercialize drugs developed using artificial intelligence in partnership with Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based company.

The deal includes an initial payment of $115 million to Insilico, with the remainder contingent on meeting regulatory and commercial milestones, along with royalties from future sales, as announced by both companies on Monday.

Insilico has created at least 28 drugs through generative AI technologies, nearly half of which are now in clinical trials, according to Alex Zhavoronkov, the founder and CEO of Insilico, in an interview with CNBC. The firm made its public debut in Hong Kong in December, with its stock climbing over 50% year-to-date.

“In many respects, Lilly excels beyond us in certain AI domains,” Zhavoronkov remarked, highlighting that the U.S. pharmaceutical leader has successfully integrated biology, chemistry, and automation under one umbrella. He also mentioned that as part of the agreement, Insilico will become a member of Lilly’s Gateway Labs biotech development community.

The collaboration builds on an existing AI software licensing agreement signed in 2023.

“This partnership enables us to investigate innovative mechanisms and expedite the discovery of promising therapeutic candidates across various disease areas,” stated Andrew Adams, group vice president of Molecule Discovery at Lilly. He referred to Insilico’s AI-powered drug discovery as “a potent complement” to Lilly’s clinical development efforts.

Eli Lilly’s CEO, David A. Ricks, recently participated in a high-profile forum in Beijing, shortly after the company disclosed intentions to invest $3 billion in China over the course of the next decade. Last year, Eli Lilly reported that less than 3% of its revenue came from the Chinese market.

Insilico conducts its AI research outside China, focusing in Canada and the Middle East, while also carrying out early preclinical drug development in China rooted in that AI research, Zhavoronkov explained. He noted that AI not only decreases research duration but also accelerates the synthesis of molecules compared to traditional discovery methods.