Eli Lilly Signs $1.3 Bn AI Deal

Under the partnership, Lilly will gain exclusive rights to advance and commercialize drug candidates discovered through Superluminal’s artificial intelligence platform.

Eli Lilly has entered into a deal worth up to $1.3 billion with Boston-based biotech Superluminal Medicines to develop new drugs for obesity and related heart conditions.

The agreement marks Lilly’s latest move to expand its portfolio of weight management treatments.

Under the partnership, Lilly will gain exclusive rights to advance and commercialize drug candidates discovered through Superluminal’s artificial intelligence platform.

The deal includes upfront and milestone payments, an equity investment, and tiered royalties on future sales if products reach the market.

AI-Driven Discovery

Superluminal was founded in 2022 and is based at Lilly’s Gateway Labs in Boston. The startup raised $120 million in 2024 in a Series A round that included Lilly as an investor. It uses AI and data-driven models to design small-molecule drugs. Superluminal’s platform combines computational tools with biological insights to speed up the process of identifying new treatments.

The collaboration with Lilly will focus on G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a family of proteins that play an important role in metabolism and are considered challenging targets for drug development.

Alongside this partnership, Superluminal is advancing its own lead program for obesity, which targets the MC4R receptor.

The company expects to move this program into clinical trials by late 2026. This candidate is not part of the Lilly agreement.

By combining Lilly’s development expertise with Superluminal’s technology, the companies aim to create a new class of therapies for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.

Looking Ahead

For now, neither company has disclosed when the first candidates from this partnership may enter clinical trials

If successful, the collaboration could lead to the development of new small-molecule therapies that address obesity and cardiometabolic diseases in ways not currently covered by existing treatments.

The use of artificial intelligence is expected to shorten timelines and open up opportunities in areas that have been difficult to target with traditional approaches.

For Lilly, this deal is a way to expand its reach in obesity drug development through AI-driven small-molecule discovery, complementing its existing pipeline.

For Superluminal, the partnership provides financial backing and validation of its technology while enabling it to continue building its own independent pipeline.

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