
Lilly launches TuneLab platform to give biotechnology
companies access to
AI-enabled drug discovery
models
(ABU DHABI) - Eli Lilly and Company
(NYSE: LLY) has announced
the launch of
Lilly TuneLab, an
artificial intelligence and
machine learning (AI/ML)
platform that provides
biotech companies access to
drug discovery models
trained on years of Lilly's
research data. Lilly
estimates that this first
release of AI models
includes proprietary data
obtained at a cost of over
$1 billion, representing one
of the industry's most
valuable datasets used to
train an AI system available
to biotechnology companies.
"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," said
Daniel Skovronsky, M.D.,
Ph.D., chief scientific
officer and president, Lilly
Research Laboratories and
Lilly Immunology.
"Lilly TuneLab was created
to be an equalizer 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."
Lilly TuneLab is powered
by Lilly's full drug
disposition, safety, and
preclinical datasets
representing experimental
data obtained with hundreds
of thousands of unique
molecules. In return for
access, selected biotech
partners contribute training
data, which fuels continuous
improvement for the benefit
of others in the ecosystem
and ultimately patients. The
platform is hosted by a
third-party and employs
federated learning, a
privacy-preserving approach
that enables biotechs to tap
into Lilly's AI models
without directly exposing
their proprietary data or
Lilly's. Lilly TuneLab was
developed through
partnerships with leading
global technology providers
and AI/ML experts. Lilly
intends to extend the
platform's features and
capabilities beyond this
first release, including
adding in vivo small
molecule predictive models,
available exclusively on
Lilly TuneLab.
Lilly
TuneLab is the newest
addition to Lilly
Catalyze360's set of
offerings for Lilly's
biotech partners, which
includes strategic capital
through Lilly Ventures,
state-of-the-art laboratory
facilities at Lilly Gateway
Labs, and drug development
expertise via Lilly
ExploR&D.
"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," said
Nisha Nanda, Ph.D.,
group vice president and
head, Lilly Catalyze360.
"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."
To learn
more about Lilly TuneLab and
explore partnership
opportunities, visit
tunelab.lilly.com.