$2.5 Billion! AI Pharma Fires the First Shot at BIO 2026 With a Mega Licensing Deal

Insilico Medicine (3696.HK), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI), and SK Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a South Korea-based company that leads biotechnological innovation through pioneering drug research, jointly announced on the eve of the BIO 2026 International Convention that they have entered into an AI-driven drug discovery collaboration. The partnership will focus on neuroimmunological diseases, leveraging AI technology to identify innovative drug candidate molecules.

Neuroimmunological diseases encompass neuroinflammatory disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare neurological conditions. This area represents one of the most challenging therapeutic fields in modern medicine, characterized by significant unmet clinical needs and historically low clinical success rates for related drug development. Under the agreement, Insilico Medicine will leverage its proprietary Pharma.AI platform, which covers target validation, molecule generation, and molecule optimization, combined with its preclinical drug discovery expertise, to focus on identifying, designing, and optimizing novel candidate drugs for neuroimmunological indications. SK Biopharm will draw upon its extensive R&D and clinical capabilities in the field of neuroimmunological diseases to lead the late-stage development and commercialization of the collaborative projects. Both parties aim to accelerate the drug discovery process and expedite the availability of next-generation therapies to patients worldwide.

From a financial perspective, Insilico Medicine will be eligible to receive up to $18 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments. In addition, the total potential transaction value of this collaboration exceeds $2.5 billion, covering development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments, as well as single-digit percentage royalties on net sales following product commercialization. Notably, in terms of total potential transaction value, this is Insilico Medicine's largest collaboration to date with a partner in the Asia-Pacific region.

SK Biopharm President and CEO Donghoon Lee stated, "This collaboration marks a significant step in our expansion into new central nervous system (CNS) therapeutic areas beyond epilepsy, building upon the deep CNS expertise we have accumulated through the successful development and commercialization of cenobamate. By combining Insilico Medicine's AI-driven drug discovery platform with SK Biopharmaceuticals' capabilities in clinical development and U.S. commercialization, we believe we can accelerate the discovery of innovative CNS therapies to benefit more patients. The significance of this partnership extends beyond a single project; we view it as a scalable and replicable growth platform that can support future target discovery and development opportunities."

Alex Zhavoronkov, Founder, Co-CEO, and Chief Business Officer of Insilico Medicine, stated, "We are delighted to announce this significant collaboration during the 2026 BIO International Convention, underscoring the immense value of industry exchange and cooperation in accelerating innovation in healthcare. SK Biopharm is a visionary partner that combines global leadership with commercialization capabilities and proactively embraces artificial intelligence from a forward-looking perspective. By integrating Insilico Medicine's AI-driven 'target-to-candidate' drug discovery platform with SK Biopharm's deep expertise in the CNS field, we aim to advance the development of breakthrough therapies spanning both traditional small molecules and new molecular entities, thereby addressing patients' urgent unmet needs."

As an AI-driven biotechnology company, Insilico Medicine is redefining the efficiency of preclinical drug development and setting new industry standards through its advanced AI and automation platform. While traditional early-stage drug discovery typically requires 2.5 to 4 years, Insilico Medicine advances projects from initiation to the nomination of preclinical candidate compounds in an average of just 12 to 18 months, with only 60 to 200 molecules required to be synthesized and tested per project. Since 2021, the company has nominated 31 preclinical candidate compounds, 13 of which have received IND approvals.

While continuously expanding the practical applications of its technology in drug discovery and life sciences research, Insilico Medicine is also steadily enhancing the performance of its AI platform. Leveraging the extensive experience and data accumulated through its training platform, the company has distilled thousands of benchmarks and integrated them into MMAI Gym. As a "trainer" and "benchmarking platform" for scientific AI, MMAI Gym enables institutions to train models with domain-specific reasoning capabilities and rigorously evaluate their performance on real-world tasks, thereby advancing the journey toward "pharmaceutical superintelligence." To date, Human Longevity and Liquid AI have partnered with Insilico Medicine as collaborators of MMAI Gym.

Insilico Medicine is a global pioneer in biotechnology, dedicated to integrating artificial intelligence and automation technologies to accelerate drug discovery and drive innovation in the life sciences sector, empowering humanity to live longer and healthier lives. On December 30, 2025, the company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with stock code: 03696.HK.

Leveraging its self-developed Pharma.AI platform and advanced automated biology laboratories, Insilico Medicine is delivering innovative drug solutions for unmet medical needs in fibrosis, oncology, immunology, pain, obesity, and metabolic disorders. Furthermore, Insilico Medicine continues to expand the application of Pharma.AI into diverse fields, including advanced materials, agriculture, nutritional products, and veterinary pharmaceuticals.

SK Biopharmaceuticals is a global biotechnology company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of innovative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders and other therapeutic areas. With its innovative epilepsy treatment XCOPRI® (cenobamate), the company achieved a milestone by becoming the first Korean pharmaceutical enterprise to independently develop and commercialize an innovative drug in the United States.

Through its U.S. subsidiary, SK Life Science, Inc., SK Biopharmaceuticals has established a direct commercialization platform in the United States and continues to expand its global footprint through strategic partnerships in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. Meanwhile, the company is continuously enhancing patient access to medications and boosting long-term growth potential by steadily advancing indication label expansions and geographic market development. Building on its commercial success, SK Biopharmaceuticals is further diversifying its product pipeline and actively investing in next-generation growth engines, including cutting-edge fields such as radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) and targeted protein degradation (TPD). Through open innovation and collaborations with leading global institutions and enterprises, the company continually expands its innovation ecosystem and R&D capabilities.

Furthermore, SK Biopharmaceuticals is applying artificial intelligence and digital technologies across the entire drug discovery, development, and treatment process to enhance patient outcomes and experience. By integrating scientific innovation with digital health solutions, the company is committed to building a patient-centric healthcare ecosystem and realizing its vision of becoming a well-balanced, global biotechnology leader.