Nimbus Therapeutics, the drug discovery company harnessing AI-driven computational chemistry, announced a multi-year research collaboration and exclusive worldwide license agreement with Eli Lilly and Company to develop a new oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases.
The partnership builds on a prior collaboration between Nimbus and Lilly targeting AMPK in cardiometabolic diseases. Under the new agreement, the companies will apply Nimbus’ cutting-edge structure-based drug design approach to an early-stage small molecule program aimed at a major unmet need in obesity treatment.
“We are pleased to deepen our collaboration with Nimbus, a team that has demonstrated exceptional ability to tackle complex drug discovery challenges,” said Ruth Gimeno, Group Vice President, Diabetes and Metabolic Research and Development at Lilly.
“Working together to develop this novel obesity therapy represents an important addition to Lilly’s efforts to advance innovative treatment options for patients with metabolic disorders.”
“At Nimbus, computational scientists, medicinal chemists, pharmacologists and translational biologists work together to integrate AI-driven predictive models with structure-based design to develop novel small molecules with best-in-class potential. This integration has enabled us to consistently deliver optimized clinical candidates for difficult-to-drug targets,” said Peter J. Tummino, President of Research and Development at Nimbus.
“We are excited to collaborate with Lilly on another program, combining our discovery capabilities with their metabolic disease expertise to bring a much-needed new treatment to people with obesity and make a meaningful difference in their lives.”
Financial terms of the deal include $55 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments for Nimbus, with potential total payments of approximately $1.3 billion, including development, commercial, and sales milestones, plus tiered royalties on global net sales.
