The US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has officially entered into a $2.75 billion collaboration agreement, the core of which is to bring drugs developed by Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine using artificial intelligence technology to the global market, realizing the internationalization of AI-driven drug development.
According to an official announcement released by the two companies on March 23, the collaboration agreement will bring Insilico an upfront payment of $115 million, with the remaining $2.635 billion to be paid in installments based on regulatory progress, achievement of commercial milestones, and royalties generated from future drug sales.
Insilico founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov revealed in a media interview that the company has successfully developed at least 28 drugs using generative artificial intelligence tools, nearly half of which have successfully entered clinical trials. Insilico, which listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last December, has seen its share price rise by more than 50% this year, demonstrating strong market performance.
Alex Zhavoronkov stated, "In some areas of artificial intelligence, Eli Lilly is better than us in many ways." He further pointed out that the US pharmaceutical giant has an "expert" capable of integrating biology, chemistry, and automation into a single entity. He added that as part of this collaboration, Insilico will officially join Eli Lilly's Gateway Labs biotechnology research community, achieving deep synergy of research resources between the two companies. In fact, this isn't the first collaboration between the two companies. Since signing an AI-based software licensing agreement in 2023, they have maintained a close working relationship, and this $2.75 billion agreement represents a further deepening and upgrade of their collaboration.
Andrew Adams, Vice President of Molecular Discovery at Eli Lilly, stated in a press release, "This collaboration enables us to explore new mechanisms and accelerate the discovery of promising therapeutic candidates across multiple disease areas." He also explicitly stated that Insilico's AI-powered discovery technology is a "powerful complement" to Eli Lilly's clinical development efforts, further enhancing Eli Lilly's competitiveness in drug discovery.
It's noteworthy that Eli Lilly CEO David A. Ricks attended a high-level forum in Beijing earlier this month. Just weeks before this forum, Eli Lilly announced a major investment plan—to invest $3 billion in the Chinese market over the next ten years. According to a report released by Eli Lilly, slightly less than 3% of the company's total revenue last year came from the Chinese market, highlighting the company's emphasis on this market.
Zavoronkov also introduced Insilico's R&D strategy. The company's AI research is primarily conducted in Canada and the Middle East (outside of China), but early-stage preclinical drug development based on these AI research findings is carried out in China. He emphasized that in addition to shortening drug development cycles, AI technology can synthesize molecules at a speed far exceeding traditional methods, which is the core advantage of AI-driven drug development.
