ShanghaiJune 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Insilico Medicine (3696.HK), a clinical-stage biotechnology company driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI), and SK Biopharmaceuticals, a South Korea-based company leading biotechnological innovation through pioneering drug research, jointly announced an AI-driven drug research and development collaboration on the eve of the BIO 2026 International Convention. The partnership will focus on the field of neuroimmune diseases, leveraging AI technology to discover innovative drug candidate molecules.
Neuroimmune diseases encompass neuroinflammatory disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and rare neurological conditions, representing one of the most challenging therapeutic areas in modern medicine. They face a high level of unmet clinical need, and historically, clinical success rates for related drug development have been relatively low. Under the agreement, Insilico Medicine will leverage its proprietary Pharma.AI platform, covering target validation, molecule generation, and molecule optimization, combined with its preclinical drug discovery expertise, to focus on identifying, designing, and optimizing novel drug candidates for neuroimmune indications. SK Biopharmaceuticals will leverage its deep research and clinical capabilities in the neuroimmune disease field to lead the late-stage development and commercialization of the collaboration projects. Both parties aim to accelerate the drug discovery process and bring next-generation therapies to patients worldwide more quickly.
In terms of financial terms, Insilico Medicine is eligible to receive up to $18 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments. Additionally, the total potential transaction value of this collaboration exceeds $2.5 billion, encompassing development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as single-digit percentage royalties on net sales following product commercialization. Notably, based on the total potential transaction value, this represents the largest collaboration Insilico Medicine has ever reached with a partner in the Asia-Pacific region.
Donghoon Lee, President and CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals, said, “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. This collaboration is about more than just 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, said, “We are delighted to announce this significant collaboration during the 2026 BIO International Convention, highlighting the immense value of industry exchange and collaboration in accelerating healthcare innovation. SK Biopharmaceuticals is a visionary partner with global leadership and commercialization capabilities, embracing artificial intelligence with a forward-looking perspective. By integrating Insilico Medicine’s AI-driven ‘from target to candidate’ R&D system with SK Biopharmaceuticals’ deep expertise in the CNS field, we aim to advance the development of breakthrough therapies, covering both traditional small molecules and novel molecular entities, to address the urgent unmet needs of patients.”
As an AI-driven biotechnology company, Insilico Medicine is redefining preclinical drug development efficiency through its advanced AI and automation platforms, setting new industry standards. Compared to traditional early drug discovery, which typically takes 2.5 to 4 years, Insilico Medicine advances projects from initiation to preclinical candidate compound nomination in an average of just 12 to 18 months, synthesizing and testing only 60 to 200 molecules per project. Since 2021, the company has nominated 31 preclinical candidate compounds, 13 of which have received IND approvals.
While continuously expanding the practical application of its technology in drug development and life science research, Insilico Medicine is also consistently enhancing the performance of its AI platform. Leveraging the extensive experience and data accumulated from 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 helps institutions 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 MMAI Gym collaborators.
About Insilico Medicine
Insilico Medicine is a global pioneer biotechnology company dedicated to integrating artificial intelligence and automation technologies to accelerate drug discovery and drive innovation in the life sciences, empowering people to live longer, healthier lives. On December 30, 2025, the company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under the stock code: 03696.HK.
Utilizing its proprietary Pharma.AI platform and advanced automated biology laboratories, Insilico Medicine is providing innovative drug solutions for unmet disease areas such as fibrosis, oncology, immunology, pain, obesity, and metabolic disorders. Additionally, Insilico Medicine continues to expand the application of Pharma.AI into diverse fields, including advanced materials, agriculture, nutritional products, and veterinary medicine. For more information, please visit the website www.insilico.com.
About SK Biopharmaceuticals
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 areas. With its innovative drug XCOPRI® (cenobamate) for the treatment of epilepsy, the company achieved a milestone by becoming the first Korean pharmaceutical company 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. At the same time, the company is continuously enhancing patient access to medications and increasing long-term growth potential by advancing label expansions and geographic expansion.
Building on its commercial success, SK Biopharmaceuticals is steadily advancing a diversified 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 companies, the company is continuously expanding 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 improve patient outcomes and experiences. By combining scientific innovation with digital healthcare solutions, the company is committed to building a patient-centered healthcare ecosystem and realizing its vision of becoming a balanced global large-cap biotechnology company.