Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) has introduced TuneLab, an artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) platform designed to provide biotech companies with access to advanced drug discovery models.
According to the company, the AI/ML models are rooted in over a decade of research, representing an investment of more than $1bn.
The launch of TuneLab represents an expansion of its Catalyze360 programme, which supports early-stage drug development, said Lilly.
Lilly Research Laboratories chief scientific officer and Lilly Immunology president Daniel Skovronsky said: “Lilly has spent decades building comprehensive datasets for drug discovery.
“Today, we’re sharing the intelligence gained from that investment to help lift the tide of biotechnology research.
“Lilly TuneLab was created to be an equaliser so that smaller companies can access some of the same AI capabilities used every day by Lilly scientists.
“By opening up access, we hope to accelerate the creation of new medicines for patients who need them.”
TuneLab is powered by datasets encompassing drug disposition, safety, and preclinical trials, derived from experiments with hundreds of thousands of unique molecules.
Lilly said that it collaborated with global technology experts to develop the platform, which is hosted by a third party and ensures data privacy through federated learning.
Select biotech partners can access the platform by contributing their original training data, which enhances the system’s capabilities.
TuneLab, the latest addition to Lilly Catalyze360’s initiative, is said to complement the company’s other offerings for biotech partners.
The offerings include strategic capital from Lilly Ventures, advanced laboratory resources at Lilly Gateway Labs, and drug development expertise through Lilly ExploR&D.
Lilly group vice president, Catalyze360 head Nisha Nanda said: “For many early-stage biotech companies, the promise of AI and machine learning in drug discovery remains just that, a promise.
“While the industry buzzes about the power of AI/ML to accelerate innovation, most small biotechs face a fundamental hurdle: they simply don’t have access to the large-scale, high-quality data needed to impact decisions and train truly effective models.
“With Lilly TuneLab we’re not just sharing resources, we are also compressing decades of learning into instantly accessible intelligence.
“Through this platform, we can help our biotech partners unlock novel scientific insights, make smart development decisions earlier, and increase their likelihood of success.”
Earlier this year, Lilly announced its plans to invest $27bn in building four new pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in the US. The move is anticipated to boost the company’s domestic drug production, bringing its total US capital expansion commitments to over $50bn since 2020.
