CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine ("Insilico", 3696.HK), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, and SK Biopharmaceuticals, a Korean-based company leads the way in biotech innovation with groundbreaking drug research, development, and commercialization worldwide, announced a research and development collaboration at the BIO 2026 International Convention to discover AI-enabled innovative drug candidates in the neuroimmune area of the central nervous system (CNS).
Neuroimmune disorders, including neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative, and rare neurological disorders, remain among the most challenging therapeutic areas in modern medicine, with significant unmet patient need and historically low clinical success rates.
Under the agreement, Insilico will leverage its proprietary Pharma.AI platform, which spans target validation, generative chemistry, and molecule optimization, together with its preclinical drug discovery expertise to discover, design, and optimize novel candidates for neuroimmune indications. SK Biopharmaceuticals will contribute its extensive development and clinical capabilities in neuroimmune disorders, steering the late-stage development and commercialization of all resulting programs. Together, the two companies aim to accelerate discovery timelines and advance next-generation therapies for patients worldwide.
Financially, Insilico will be eligible to receive up to $18 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments. The total potential deal value exceeds $2.5 billion, including development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as single-digit royalties on net sales upon commercialization. Notably, the partnership sets a record by total potential deal value that Insilico has secured with APAC partners to date.
"This collaboration represents an important milestone in expanding our growth beyond epilepsy into new CNS therapeutic areas, building on the deep CNS expertise we have established through the successful development and commercialization of Cenobamate," said Donghoon Lee, President and CEO of SK Biopharmaceuticals. "By combining Insilico's AI-powered drug discovery platform with SK Biopharmaceuticals' clinical development and U.S. commercialization capabilities, we believe we can accelerate the discovery of innovative CNS therapies for patients. Beyond a single program, we see this collaboration as a scalable and repeatable growth platform that can be leveraged for future target discovery and development opportunities."
"We are delighted to announce this great news at the 2026 BIO International Convention, which underscores the tremendous power of industry communication and collaboration in accelerating progress in healthcare," said Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, founder, co-CEO, and CBO of Insilico Medicine. "SK Biopharmaceuticals is a visionary partner, merging global leadership and commercialization expertise with a forward-thinking embrace of AI. By uniting Insilico's AI-driven target-to-candidate engine with SK Biopharmaceuticals' deep CNS mastery, we aim to unlock breakthrough therapies, spanning both traditional small molecules and advanced new modalities, to address critical patient needs."
As an AI-native biotechnology company, Insilico is redefining the efficiency of preclinical drug development through its advanced AI and automation platform, setting a new standard for the industry. While traditional early-stage drug discovery typically takes 2.5 to 4 years, Insilico has consistently reached preclinical candidate (PCC) nomination in an average of just 12 to 18 months, with only 60 to 200 molecules synthesized and tested per program. Since 2021, the company has nominated 31 PCCs, 13 of which have received IND approval or clearance.
While expanding the practical applications of its technology in drug discovery and life science research, Insilico is also continuously enhancing the performance of its AI platform. Drawing on extensive experience and datasets from its training platform, the company has distilled thousands of benchmarks and integrated them into MMAI Gym. Serving as both a "trainer and benchmark" for scientific AI, MMAI Gym enables organizations to train models for domain-specific reasoning while rigorously evaluating their performance on real-world tasks, advancing the path toward pharma superintelligence. To date, Human Longevity and Liquid AI have collaborated with Insilico, joining as partners of MMAI Gym.
About Insilico Medicine
Insilico Medicine is a pioneering global biotechnology company dedicated to integrating artificial intelligence and automation technologies to accelerate drug discovery, drive innovation in the life sciences, and extend healthy longevity to people on the planet. The company was listed on the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on December 30, 2025, under the stock code 03696.HK.
By integrating AI and automation technologies and deep in-house drug discovery capabilities, Insilico is delivering innovative drug solutions for unmet needs including fibrosis, oncology, immunology, pain, and obesity and metabolic disorders. Additionally, Insilico extends the reach of Pharma.AI across diverse industries, such as advanced materials, agriculture, nutritional products and veterinary medicine. For more information, please visit www.insilico.com
About SK Biopharmaceuticals
SK Biopharmaceuticals is a global biotech company focused on the research, development, and commercialization of innovative therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders and beyond. The company achieved a historic milestone as the first Korean pharmaceutical company to independently develop and commercialize a novel drug in the United States with XCOPRI® (cenobamate), an innovative treatment for epilepsy.
Through its U.S. subsidiary, SK Life Science, Inc., SK Biopharmaceuticals has established a direct commercial platform in the United States while expanding its global footprint through strategic partnerships across Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Asia. The company continues to broaden patient access and strengthen its long-term growth potential through ongoing label and geographic expansion efforts.
Building on its commercial success, SK Biopharmaceuticals is advancing a diversified pipeline and investing in next-generation growth drivers, including radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs) and targeted protein degradation (TPD). Through open innovation and collaborations with leading global institutions and companies, the company continues to expand its innovation ecosystem and R&D capabilities.
SK Biopharmaceuticals is also leveraging AI and digital technologies across the drug discovery, development, and treatment continuum to enhance patient outcomes and experiences. By integrating scientific innovation with digital healthcare solutions, the company aims to build a patient-centered healthcare ecosystem and realize its vision of becoming a balanced Big Biotech.
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SOURCE Insilico Medicine
