Insilico Medicine, SK Biopharmaceuticals Sign Up to $2.5B AI Drug Discovery Pact for Neuroimmune Disorders
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Under the collaboration, Insilico Medicine will deploy its proprietary Pharma.AI platform for target identification, generative chemistry, and molecule optimization.
Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals have announced a research and development collaboration valued at up to $2.5 billion to discover and develop AI-powered drug candidates targeting neuroimmune disorders of the central nervous system (CNS).
The agreement, unveiled at the BIO 2026 International Convention, focuses on addressing neuroimmune conditions, including neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative, and rare neurological disorders, which continue to present significant unmet medical needs and low clinical success rates.
Under the collaboration, Insilico Medicine will deploy its proprietary Pharma.AI platform for target identification, generative chemistry, and molecule optimization. The company will also contribute its preclinical drug discovery capabilities to design and optimize novel therapeutic candidates in the neuroimmune space.
SK Biopharmaceuticals will lead late-stage development, clinical advancement, and commercialization of resulting drug programs, leveraging its established CNS research expertise and global development capabilities.
Financial terms include up to $18 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments for Insilico Medicine. The total deal value could exceed $2.5 billion, factoring in development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, along with single-digit royalties on net sales after commercialization.
The companies said the partnership builds on SK Biopharmaceuticals’ experience in CNS drug development, including its work in epilepsy treatments, while expanding its pipeline into broader neuroimmune indications.
“This collaboration represents an important milestone in expanding our growth beyond epilepsy into new CNS therapeutic areas,” said Donghoon Lee, President and CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals. He added that combining AI-driven discovery with clinical expertise could accelerate the development of new CNS therapies.
Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and co-CEO of Insilico Medicine, said the collaboration highlights the role of industry partnerships in accelerating healthcare innovation. He noted that integrating Insilico’s AI-driven discovery system with SK Biopharmaceuticals’ CNS expertise could support the development of both small molecules and advanced therapeutic modalities.
Insilico Medicine stated that its AI-powered platform has reduced preclinical drug discovery timelines to 12–18 months, compared to the traditional 2.5–4 years, with only 60–200 molecules typically synthesized and tested per program. Since 2021, the company has nominated 31 preclinical candidates, with 13 advancing to IND approval or clearance.
The company also highlighted its AI benchmarking initiative, MMAI Gym, which is designed to train and evaluate domain-specific scientific AI models. The platform has attracted collaborators including Human Longevity and Liquid AI.
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