USA –Eli Lilly has partnered with Insitro, an AI-driven biotech company, in a series of deals aimed at addressing metabolic diseases, including metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
This collaboration signals a significant shift in the pharmaceutical industry’s approach to AI-enabled drug discovery, with Insitro retaining development and commercialization control, while Lilly provides access to its advanced delivery technology.
Unlike traditional pharmaceutical agreements where big pharma leads clinical development, Insitro will spearhead its drug development programs.
Eli Lilly will support the biotech’s efforts by providing key delivery technologies, with the potential to earn milestones and royalties as the programs progress.
According to Insitro CEO Daphne Koller, the partnership reflects their commitment to innovating not only in biology discovery but also in how they collaborate with industry leaders.
Three key agreements for metabolic disease research
The collaboration between the two companies consists of three separate agreements. In the first two, Insitro gains access to Eli Lilly’s clinical-stage ternary N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) delivery technology, which will be combined with two small interfering RNA (siRNA) molecules developed by Insitro.
Each siRNA targets distinct liver-specific pathways, aiming to address the underlying mechanisms of metabolic diseases like MASLD.
The third agreement focuses on developing an antibody targeting an unspecified metabolic disease. The companies will work together during the early preclinical stage, but Insitro will take full control once a development candidate is identified.
This arrangement allows Insitro to drive its innovative AI-driven drug discovery programs forward, with the potential to advance a candidate to the clinic by early 2026.
Insitro’s proprietary AI/ML platform
At the core of Insitro’s efforts is its proprietary AI and machine learning (ML) platform, which leverages large-scale multimodal data, computational power, and genetics to identify high-value drug targets.
This cutting-edge platform is instrumental in advancing Insitro’s pipeline, which also includes programs in oncology and neuroscience.
Koller emphasized that the collaboration with Eli Lilly will enable Insitro to move forward with Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies and access technologies outside its immediate expertise.
Since its launch in 2018, Insitro has raised over US $700 million in funding, allowing it to build a robust pipeline and pursue innovative AI-driven drug discovery initiatives.
The company’s partnership with Eli Lilly follows a five-year, US $2-billion collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb in 2020, focused on developing therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD).
