Insilico and Qilu Forge AI-Driven Cardiometabolic Drug Partnership

Insilico Medicine and Qilu Pharmaceutical Group have entered into a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new therapies for cardiometabolic diseases, highlighting the growing role of artificial intelligence in pharmaceutical innovation. The collaboration will leverage Insilico’s proprietary generative AI platform, Pharma.AI, to jointly develop novel small-molecule inhibitors targeting specific pathways involved in metabolic disorders.

Under the terms of the agreement, Insilico Medicine will lead the early stages of drug discovery, using its Pharma.AI platform to design and optimize innovative small molecules. Qilu Pharmaceutical Group, together with its subsidiary Shanghai Qilu Pharmaceutical Research Center, will take responsibility for subsequent development, regulatory activities, and commercialization. The total contract value of the partnership is close to $120 million and includes development and commercialization milestone payments, as well as single-digit royalties based on net sales of any approved products.

Qilu Pharmaceutical Group executives described the collaboration as a significant expansion of the companies’ existing relationship. Weikang Tao, PhD, Board Member, Group Vice President and Head of Global R&D at Qilu, said the partnership reflects Qilu’s long-standing commitment to adopting advanced AI technologies in drug research and development. He noted that the collaboration has evolved from earlier software licensing arrangements into a deeper, integrated R&D effort designed to address unmet medical needs and bring innovative therapies to patients worldwide.

Insilico Medicine founder and Chief Executive Officer Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, emphasized the strategic importance of cardiometabolic diseases, describing them as an area with the potential to deliver some of the first therapies capable of extending healthspan at scale. He highlighted that Insilico recently presented its cardiometabolic portfolio at the BIO-Europe conference, showcasing eight drug candidates ranging from hit discovery to IND-enabling stages, all developed using the Pharma.AI platform.

The partnership builds on Insilico Medicine’s broader, diversified business model, which combines internal drug discovery, software licensing, and pipeline out-licensing. The company has secured software licensing agreements with 13 of the world’s top 20 multinational pharmaceutical companies and has established major research collaborations with partners such as Fosun Pharma and Sanofi. Additionally, Insilico has entered into pipeline out-licensing deals with Exelixis and the Menarini Group, with total transaction values exceeding $2 billion.

Qilu Pharmaceutical began using Insilico’s PandaOmics platform in 2021, laying the groundwork for the current collaboration. Both companies expect the expanded partnership to further demonstrate how AI-driven platforms can improve efficiency and innovation in drug development.

Founded on early research published in 2016 that first described the use of generative AI to design novel molecules, Insilico’s Pharma.AI platform has continued to evolve into an integrated solution spanning biology, chemistry, and clinical development. Since 2021, Insilico has nominated 22 developmental or preclinical candidates, including Rentosertib, which has shown positive Phase IIa results—marking a key clinical proof-of-concept for AI-driven drug discovery.