After an initial AI software licensing deal between Eli Lilly and Insilico Medicine three years ago, the companies are deepening their ties once again with a drug discovery and development collaboration worth up to $2.75 billion. 

The deal, which follows a $100 million partnership between the two inked in November 2025, is slated to grow the Big Pharma’s access to Insilico’s AI engine to pursue novel therapeutics. The companies first joined forces back in 2023 with an AI software licensing agreement.

The latest accord features an upfront payment of $115 million, plus much more in potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Tiered royalties on future sales could follow, according to a March 29 release.

Under the deal, Insilico will grant Lilly an exclusive worldwide license for the development, manufacturing and commercialization of certain preclinical oral therapeutics for undisclosed indications. The two companies will also partner on R&D for assets selected by Lilly.

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Insilico aims to target diseases with significant unmet need, founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., said in a statement. He touted the ability of the company’s AI platform to “identify multi-purpose targets driving multiple diseases at the same time.”

Zhavoronkov founded Insilico in 2014 as an alternative to animal testing in the biopharma industry, leveraging AI to analyze how compounds might impact cells. A former Fierce Medtech Fierce 15 and Fierce 50 winner, the company has become a sought-after biopharma AI partner for molecule design while advancing its own internal research pipeline focused on fibrosis and longevity.

Insilico pulled off a Hong Kong IPO at the end of last year, raising $293 million, and has since signed several partnerships, including a potential $888 million development and discovery pact with Servier. It followed that with a $120 million deal with Qilu to develop cardiometabolic disease assets and a $66 million agreement to split rights to its Parkinson’s asset with Chinese biotech Hengrui Therapeutics.

For its part, Lilly is no stranger to AI partnerships, having teamed up with Nvidia in October to build what it called the “most powerful” supercomputer in pharma. The pharma giant said it planned to use the computing power to bolster molecule discovery research and shorten development timelines, among other applications.