Source: Fortune.com
Summary
Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-listed AI drug discovery company, has partnered with SK Biopharmaceuticals to develop new drugs for neuroimmune conditions in a deal valued at over $2.5 billion. Insilico will use its Pharma.AI platform to design new candidates, while SK Biopharmaceuticals will handle late-stage development and commercialization. The deal could bring Insilico up to $2.5 billion in payments and royalties. This is Insilico’s largest partnership with an Asia-Pacific company and its second major deal with a Big Pharma company.
Our Reading
The numbers tell one story. Insilico Medicine’s shares rose 5.6% in Hong Kong trading after the deal was announced, while SK Biopharmaceuticals’s shares dropped 1.7%. Insilico’s co-CEO Alex Zhavoronkov aims to make the company the “SpaceX of the pharmaceutical industry,” with a goal of reaching “escape velocity” where no one can compete. The partnership is part of a broader trend of Korean companies investing in pharmaceutical research and development. Zhavoronkov notes that Korean companies are “a bit more adventurous” and willing to take risks to achieve high novelty. Insilico’s model uses AI to rapidly discover and develop new drug candidates, with multiple drugs in trials. The company is also riding a boom in Asian biotech, particularly in China.
Insilico’s ambition is to be the disruptor in the pharmaceutical industry, and this partnership is a significant step towards that goal.
Author: Evan Null
