(Reuters) -Superluminal Medicines said on Thursday it had signed a deal with U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly worth up to $1.3 billion, granting Lilly access to its AI-driven platform to discover and develop obesity drugs.
Lilly, currently one of the leaders in the obesity treatment market potentially worth $150 billion by the next decade, is trying to strengthen its foothold in the space through the development of next-generation drugs, acquisitions and partnerships.
The deal will allow Lilly to access Superluminal's
proprietary artificial-intelligence platform to rapidly discover potential drug candidates targeting cardiometabolic diseases and obesity.
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.
Lilly would receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drug candidates discovered using Superluminal's platform, the privately held drug developer said.
Superluminal's lead candidate, which targets a protein called melanocortin 4 receptor, is being developed to treat certain rare genetic forms of obesity and is expected to begin human trials next year.
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.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai)
