AstraZeneca Strikes Up to $1.5 Billion AI Drug Discovery Deal With Insitro

AstraZeneca AZN 2.83%increase; green up pointing triangle said it is teaming up with startup Insitro to deploy artificial intelligence to explore new treatments for cardiometabolic diseases in a deal valued at as much as $1.5 billion.

The U.K. drugmaker will pay AI therapeutics company Insitro $40 million upfront and up to $1.46 billion subject to meeting development and commercial targets, in exchange for the exclusive worldwide rights to advance programs identified as part of the partnership, the companies said Thursday. Insitro will also be eligible to receive royalties based on potential sales, they added.

AstraZeneca said the collaboration would focus on difficult-to-treat cardiometabolic diseases such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, also known as fatty liver disease, and cardiomyopathies.

Under the deal, Insitro will use its AI platform to identify the root cause of disease and advance AstraZeneca-nominated targets, the companies said. Insitro said AstraZeneca would lead all clinical development, regulatory work, as well as commercialization activities.

The partnership marks the latest to pair pharmaceutical and AI companies, as drugmakers turn to the technology in a bid to speed up the discovery and development of new medicines.

Wegovy maker Novo Nordisk last month said it would partner with Anthropic to use the AI lab’s science-specific platform, known as Claude Science, for drug research. Rival Roche earlier this year said it would build a supercomputer in partnership with Nvidia.