Eli Lilly reaches $2.75 billion deal with Insilico to bring AI-developed drugs to the global market

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Source: CNBC

Biotech and Pharma

Eli Lilly reaches $2.75 billion deal with Insilico to bring AI-developed drugs to the global market

Published Sun, Mar 29 2026 9:36 AM EDT
Evelyn Cheng
@chengevelyn
@in/evelyn-cheng-53b23624

KEY POINTS
* Hong Kong-listed Insilico Medicine has reached a deal with U.S. pharma giant Eli Lilly for AI-discovered drugs.
* The two companies have worked together since 2023.
* Insilico's CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, said Eli Lilly has a competitive edge in certain aspects of AI.

BEIJING — U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has reached a $2.75 billion deal to bring drugs developed using artificial intelligence by Hong Kong-based Insilico Medicine to the global market. ... The agreement will give Insilico $115 million up front, with the remainder subject to regulatory and commercial milestones, along with royalties on future sales, according to the companies' announcement Monday.

Insilico has developed at least 28 drugs using generative AI tools, with nearly half already at a clinical stage, Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico, told CNBC. The company went public in Hong Kong in December. Its shares are up more than 50% year-to-date.

"In many ways, Lilly is better than us in some areas of AI," Zhavoronkov said, noting the U.S. pharma giant has "one person" who has brought biology, chemistry and automation under one roof. He added that as part of the deal, Insilico will join Lilly's Gateway Labs community for biotech development.

The two companies have worked together since signing an AI-based software licensing agreement in 2023.

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Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2026/03/29/eli-lilly-reaches-deal-to-bring-ai-developed-drugs-to-global-market.html