Eli Lilly Enters Second Collaboration with Nimbus Therapeutics in $55M Upfront Deal for Novel Oral Obesity Drug
Eli Lilly signed a multi-year research collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with Nimbus Therapeutics on January 6, 2026, to develop a novel oral small molecule drug for obesity and metabolic diseases.
Lilly will pay Nimbus $55 million upfront and near-term milestone payments, with potential total value up to $1.3 billion including development, commercial, and sales milestones plus tiered royalties.
This is the second partnership between the companies, following a 2022 deal worth up to $496 million targeting AMPK for cardiometabolic diseases.
Nimbus will apply its AI-enhanced computational chemistry and structure-based drug design to an early-stage discovery program.
Ruth Gimeno of Lilly stated the collaboration deepens ties and adds to efforts for innovative metabolic treatments; Peter Tummino of Nimbus highlighted combining discovery capabilities with Lilly's expertise.