Eli Lilly has entered a $1.3 billion agreement with Superluminal Medicines to develop small-molecule drugs using artificial intelligence. The collaboration aims to create treatments for obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases by targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
Superluminal will receive upfront payments, an equity investment, milestone payments, and royalties on net sales. In return, Eli Lilly gains exclusive rights to develop and commercialise compounds discovered through Superluminal's AI platform. Superluminal's platform combines structural biology, machine learning, and predictive modelling to accelerate drug discovery.
This deal strengthens Eli Lilly's position in the obesity treatment market, estimated to reach $150 billion by the next decade. It also highlights the increasing competition in GPCR-based therapies, mirroring Novo Nordisk's recent $2.2 billion alliance with Septerna. Superluminal's lead candidate, an MC4R agonist for genetic forms of obesity, is excluded from the agreement.
