Eli Lilly and Insitro Collaborate on AI-Driven Therapies for Metabolic Diseases
Strategic Agreements:
Eli Lilly and AI startup Insitro have entered into three strategic agreements to advance new therapies for metabolic diseases, particularly metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD).
Reversed Asset Flow:
Unlike typical AI-driven drug development deals, Insitro will in-license Lilly’s clinical-stage ternary N-acetylgalactosamine (GalNAc) delivery technology for its investigational liver-targeted siRNA therapies.
Collaborative Development:
The third agreement involves collaborative discovery and development of an antibody therapy for a novel target in metabolic disease. Insitro will take over clinical development and commercialization after candidate nomination.
No Upfront Payment:
Lilly will be entitled to milestone payments and royalties across all three agreements, with no upfront payment disclosed.
Insitro’s AI Platform:
Insitro’s proprietary machine learning platform leverages multimodal data at scale, computational power, and genetics to identify causal intervention points in diseases and develop effective therapies.
Partnership Goals:
The collaboration aims to accelerate therapeutic programs toward the clinic and address metabolic diseases at their root, combining Insitro’s AI capabilities with Lilly’s expertise in drug delivery and metabolic disease biology.
Insitro’s Approach:
Insitro integrates human and cellular phenotypic data to yield potential therapies, bringing a clearer understanding of diseases and opening up better therapeutic options.
Industry Context: This partnership joins a growing trend of AI startups partnering with big pharma to produce better drugs, including Lilly’s recent partnership with OpenAI and Novartis’s deal with Generate:
Biomedicines.