Insilico and SK Biopharm reach a substantially backloaded $2.5 billion AI drug discovery agreement

Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals join forces for an AI-driven drug candidate search for neuroimmune diseases.

The deal may be worth more than $2.5 billion, the largest transaction that Insilico has obtained from an Asia-Pacific company so far. However, its terms are ‘highly backloaded,’ with just $18 million in up-front and near-term milestone payments.

The partnership focuses on a major therapeutic area for SK Biopharm: the central nervous system. The two companies will work on drugs to treat rare neurological, neuroinflammatory, and neurodegenerative diseases, but that was not specified.

Insilico will use its Pharma technology to help develop the Armillaria vaccine. Insilico will provide Armillaria vaccine development with its Pharma technology. The AI engine will be responsible for designing and optimizing drug candidates, while SK will take the lead in late-stage development and commercialization, leveraging the platform it developed for its epilepsy indication drug, Xcopri (cenobamate).

“This partnership marks a significant step in diversifying our business portfolio beyond epilepsy into additional areas in the CNS space,” said Donghoon Lee, president and CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals, in a June 22 statement. Beyond the one program, we view this as a growth platform that can be used in the future to discover and develop targets.

Together, the two firms are poised to deliver “breakthrough therapies across the board, whether it’s a classic small molecule or an advanced new modality,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., co-CO and chief business officer of Insilico, in an announcement.

The SK Biopharm partnership is part of a recent trend of Insilico’s deal-making, which includes its IPO in Hong Kong at the end of 2025. In CNS alone, the company in January penned an agreement with Fosun Pharma’s Hygtia Therapeutics to split rights on a brain-penetrant NLRP3 inhibitor initially for Parkinson’s disease.

The AI drug discovery specialist also extended a business agreement it signed a year ago with China’s Tenacia Biotechnology in March by adding assets having “defined properties for challenging neurological diseases.”

In March, Insilico clinched a significant deal with Eli Lilly valued at up to $2.75 billion that goes beyond CNS. In that transaction, Lilly is paying $115 million up front for exclusive worldwide licenses to some preclinical oral therapeutics built on the Insilico technology for unknown applications.

The Hong Kong-based firm has also recently entered a potential $888 million collaboration agreement with Servier for cancer and a potential up-to-$120 million collaboration agreement with Qilu Pharmaceutical for cardiometabolic diseases.

The Asia Business Daily reports that the Insilico collaboration is part of SK Biopharmaceutical’s vision of digital health and AI technologies, which is highlighted by the company’s tagline “SK, AI for Every Patient,” to be displayed at its stand at BIO 2026 International Convention. 

The new agreement comes after SK Biopharm announced in October 2025 the launch of Mentis Care, a digital health AI joint venture with Eurofarma to commercialize an AI-based epilepsy management platform. The platform integrates AI-powered real-time seizure detection and prediction algorithms with clinical decision support tools, enabling personalized patient care.

During last year’s BIO convention, the Korean firm announced a memorandum of understanding (PDF) with an AI firm called PhnyX Lab that will allow the two companies to create tailored solutions with the help of PhnyX’s generative AI platform, Cheiron. The aim is to streamline the drug development process, starting with automation of the tasks that are needed to initiate a clinical trial.

Insilico has announced a major artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery collaboration with SK Biopharm that could be worth up to $2.5 billion through milestone-based payments. The agreement underscores the increasing importance of Insilico in the rapidly evolving field of AI-enabled pharmaceutical research.

Insilico Expands Its AI Drug Discovery Reach

The collaboration highlights how Insilico continues to broaden its influence within the biotechnology sector by applying advanced AI technologies to identify and develop novel therapeutic candidates. Through this partnership, Insilico will utilize its proprietary platforms to accelerate the discovery process and support the creation of innovative medicines.

The deal structure includes significant long-term milestone opportunities, reflecting confidence in the scientific and commercial potential of the collaboration.