China-based Insilico Medicine has entered into a significant expansion of its strategic partnership with Eli Lilly in a deal valued at up to USD 2.75 billion. The agreement has two components: Insilico grants Lilly an exclusive global licence for a preclinical-stage, best-in-class oral therapeutic candidate, while the companies will collaborate on the discovery of multiple novel drug candidates against targets selected by Lilly. The partnership leverages Insilico's Pharma.AI platform alongside Lilly's deep therapeutic expertise, with Insilico eligible to receive an upfront payment of USD 115 million.

The deal marks a substantial evolution in a relationship that began in 2023 with a software licence, progressed to collaborative R&D in late 2025, and was further cemented when Lilly became a cornerstone investor in Insilico's Hong Kong IPO in December 2025. The collaboration is widely speculated to focus on metabolic diseases, a core therapeutic area for Lilly. Insilico's pipeline includes several oral candidates targeting pathways like GLP-1R and GIPR, aligning with Lilly's leadership in incretin-based therapies.

According to PharmCube's NextBiopharm® database, this marks the third-largest out-licensing transaction in China's AI-powered drug development space. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.