Eli Lilly announced on Mar. 30 an expanded collaboration with Insilico Medicine, committing $115 million upfront to deepen its use of artificial intelligence for developing oral drugs across multiple diseases.
The agreement marks a significant investment by Lilly in AI-driven pharmaceutical research. The company aims to leverage Insilico’s machine learning platforms to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapies, as both firms seek to address a range of therapeutic areas.
Under the terms disclosed, Lilly will pay additional development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments that could bring the total value of the deal up to $2.75 billion. Insilico is also eligible for tiered royalties on future product sales. In exchange, Lilly receives exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize a series of oral drugs currently in preclinical stages. Specific disease targets were not disclosed.
The two companies will collaborate on several research and development programs using targets selected by Lilly and utilizing Insilico’s AI technology platforms. Andrew Adams, group vice president of Molecule Discovery at Eli Lilly, said in a statement that Insilico's AI-enabled engine is “a powerful complement to Lilly’s deep expertise in clinical development.” Adams added that partnering with Insilico “allows us to explore novel mechanisms and accelerate the identification of promising therapeutic candidates.”
This latest deal builds on previous agreements between the two companies. In November 2025, they entered into another partnership focused on generating and optimizing drug candidates for undisclosed targets; that arrangement included up to $100 million in potential payments plus royalties.
Lilly has made broader moves into artificial intelligence recently. In October 2025, it partnered with NVIDIA to build a supercomputer designed for synthesizing experimental data and streamlining drug discovery processes—a step described by Thomas Fuchs, chief AI officer at Eli Lilly: “Lilly is shifting from using AI as a tool to embracing it as a scientific collaborator.”
For Insilico Medicine, this agreement follows other recent collaborations involving neurology (with Hygtia Therapeutics and Tenacia Biotechnology), cardiometabolic conditions (with Qilu Pharmaceutical), and oncology (with Servier).
Industry observers note that while major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca—and now Eli Lilly—are increasing their use of artificial intelligence technologies within their operations, widespread success stories from drug discovery remain limited.
