Eli Lilly has signed a deal worth $1.3 billion with privately held Superluminal Medicines to discover and develop small-molecule drugs through AI to treat obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases.<\/p>\n
Lilly currently dominates the obesity treatment market, which is estimated to be worth $150 billion by the next decade, and is trying to strengthen its foothold in the space through the development of next-generation drugs, acquisitions and partnerships.
\nThe deal gives Lilly access to Superluminal’s proprietary artificial-intelligence-driven platform to rapidly discover potential drug candidates targeting G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) – a class of proteins that can influence a range of physiological processes including metabolism, cell growth and immune responses – the drug developer said on Thursday.<\/p>\n
In a similar move, Danish rival Novo Nordisk struck a $2.2 billion deal with U.S. biotech Septerna in May to develop oral small-molecule medicines targeting GPCRs for obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases.<\/p>\n
Lilly has been capitalizing on the overwhelming popularity of the GLP-1 class of medicines, which includes its blockbuster drug Zepbound as well as Novo’s Wegovy. It is also developing a keenly watched oral GLP-1 drug, orforglipron, which has failed to meet investors’ lofty expectations.<\/p>\n
The drugmaker teamed up with Hong Kong-listed biotech Laekna last year to develop an experimental obesity drug that aims to help patients lose weight while preserving muscle.<\/p>\n
Lilly will receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drug candidates discovered using Superluminal’s platform, the drug developer said.<\/p>\n
As part of the deal, Superluminal is eligible to receive upfront and milestone payments, an equity investment as well as tiered royalties on net sales, the company said.<\/p>\n
Boston-based startup Superluminal is developing a wholly owned lead candidate targeting a protein called melanocortin 4 receptor to treat certain rare, genetic forms of obesity and is expected to begin human trials next year. The lead candidate is not part of the deal with Lilly.<\/p>\n
Superluminal is backed by investors including RA Capital Management, Insight Partners and NVentures, NVIDIA’s venture capital arm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eli Lilly has signed a deal worth $1.3 billion with privately held Superluminal Medicines to discover and develop small-molecule drugs through AI to treat obesity and other cardiometabolic diseases. Lilly currently dominates the obesity treatment market, which is estimated to be worth $150 billion by the next decade, and is trying to strengthen its foothold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[335],"class_list":{"0":"post-1423","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sitefansalaran-industry-news","8":"tag-lilly-signs-1-3-billion-deal-with-superluminal-to-discover-obesity-medicines-using-ai"},"yoast_head":"\n