Lilly Strikes Up to $2.75 Billion AI Drug Deal With Insilico

Developing a medicine typically takes years and carries high failure rates, making artificial intelligence an increasingly important tool for identifying biological targets, designing molecules and narrowing candidates earlier in the process. Eli Lilly is deepening its use of outside AI platforms as large drugmakers race to improve research productivity. Insilico Medicine’s Pharma.AI system combines generative AI and automation across discovery, and the partnership pairs that technology with Lilly’s development and disease-area expertise.

Insilico announced on March 29, 2026, that Lilly would pay $115 million upfront under a global licensing and research agreement. Development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments could lift the total value to about $2.75 billion, with tiered royalties on future sales. Lilly receives exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize potentially best-in-class novel oral therapies already in preclinical development for certain indications. The companies will also pursue multiple programs against Lilly-selected targets using Insilico’s AI engine.