AI drug discovery advance: Eli Lilly partners with XtalPi in deal worth up to $345 million

On November 5, XtalPi announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary—Ailux, an AI-driven biologics research pioneer—has entered into a multi-target strategic collaboration and platform licensing agreement with global pharmaceutical leader Eli Lilly and Company. The total potential value of the agreement could reach up to $345 million.

This collaboration marks the second partnership between the two companies, following a $250 million AI-driven small molecule drug discovery agreement in 2023. Under the new agreement, Lilly will leverage Ailux's proprietary platform to accelerate the discovery and development of bispecific antibodies across multiple therapeutic areas, while also utilizing its AI-powered antibody platform to advance internal pipeline programs.

This collaboration with Lilly in the field of bispecific antibodies marks another key milestone for XtalPi, demonstrating that its intelligent drug discovery platform is gaining recognition in AI-driven antibody therapeutics. In particular, its AI-powered R&D capabilities for novel modalities like bispecific antibodies have now received international validation.

According to industry reports, antibodies—as a core therapeutic modality—consistently outperform small-molecule drugs in annual growth rate, proportion of blockbuster drugs, and clinical success rate. The global market for antibody-based therapeutics is projected to grow from $288.4 billion in 2025 to $628.5 billion by 2035, with its share of the total pharmaceutical market continuing to expand.

Ailux is a biologics R&D platform strategically established by XtalPi since 2021, which has undergone rapid development and achieved significant commercial translation over the past two years.

Leveraging XtalPi's integrated strengths in quantum physics, artificial intelligence (AI), and high-throughput wet-lab experimentation, Ailux has developed an end-to-end AI-powered biologics discovery platform. This platform is capable of designing high-potential antibody therapeutics targeting complex disease mechanisms.

The platform has already been deployed to serve multiple top-tier international pharmaceutical companies and has demonstrated successful validation across several R&D programs.