Insilico Medicine and SK Biopharmaceuticals have forged an AI-powered drug discovery collaboration worth up to $2.5 billion, making it the largest deal Insilico has secured with an Asia-Pacific partner. The alliance targets neuroimmune disorders including neurodegenerative and rare neurological conditions.
Under the terms, Insilico will deploy its Pharma.AI engine to design and optimize drug candidates, while SK Biopharm will steer late-stage development and commercialization using infrastructure built for its epilepsy therapy Xcopri. The deal carries a heavily backloaded structure with $18 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, with the balance tied to development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
“This collaboration represents an important milestone in expanding our growth beyond epilepsy into new CNS therapeutic areas,” said SK Biopharm CEO Donghoon Lee. Alex Zhavoronkov, co-CEO of Insilico, said the partnership aims to “unlock breakthrough therapies spanning both traditional small molecules and advanced new modalities.”
The deal continues Insilico’s 2026 dealmaking streak following its late-2025 Hong Kong IPO. Earlier this year, the company signed CNS agreements with Fosun Pharma’s Hygtia Therapeutics and expanded a collaboration with China’s Tenacia Biotechnology. Insilico’s total deal value for 2026 now approaches $7 billion across its partnerships.
