Lilly TuneLab adds Korea’s 1STBIO to discovery network

(Courtesy of 1ST Biotherapeutics)

Eli Lilly’s TuneLab has added Korea’s 1ST Biotherapeutics to its AI drug-discovery network, giving the Korean biotech access to a platform that lets companies run experiments using Lilly’s proprietary models for early small-molecule programs while leaving its pipeline rights with the company.

1STBIO said Thursday it had signed an agreement to use TuneLab for early-stage small-molecule drug research, including finding starting compounds, improving them and predicting possible safety or absorption problems.

The platform will be used in 1STBIO’s early programs in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. The company did not identify the targets.

The agreement gives 1STBIO access to Lilly’s AI models but does not transfer rights to its drug candidates, the company said.

A 1STBIO spokesperson told Korea Biomedical Review that the company’s research data, results and intellectual property will remain with 1STBIO and will not be shared with other TuneLab users or with Lilly through the system.

Lilly said TuneLab allows companies to run model experiments that use its proprietary models and help improve those models, while keeping company data private.

Company data is never shared, a Lilly spokesperson explained to Korea Biomedical Review. The U.S. drugmaker said it does not see a biotech’s data, and companies using TuneLab do not see Lilly’s data or the data of other companies on the platform.

TuneLab uses federated learning, a system that allows several parties to train a shared machine-learning model while keeping their own data private. Only model updates, not company data, are shared back to improve the overall model, the Lilly spokesperson said.

Lilly launched TuneLab last year to let biotech companies use AI and machine-learning infrastructure built around its internal discovery data.

Lilly has said the platform’s first model release was based on proprietary data generated through more than $1 billion in research investment, including safety, drug-disposition and preclinical datasets from hundreds of thousands of molecules.

More than 75 companies have joined TuneLab, Lilly’s spokesperson said. The company said it was not commenting further on participating companies because many have not disclosed their involvement.

The broader pitch is that smaller biotechs can use tools built from large-pharma discovery data without handing over their own compounds or research programs.

Publicly named TuneLab users or partners include Circle Pharma and insitro, while Lilly has also moved to make the platform available through Schrödinger’s LiveDesign software and Revvity’s Signals platform.

For 1STBIO, the deal adds an outside AI platform to a discovery operation it has been building since its founding in 2016.

The Yongin-based company said it has developed AI-ready ADMET datasets for small-molecule research. ADMET refers to how a drug is absorbed, distributed, metabolized and cleared from the body, and whether it may raise toxicity concerns.

1STBIO’s lead program is FB849, an HPK1 inhibitor in global phase 1 development for solid tumors.

The company raised 31.7 billion won ($21.8 million) in Series D funding in January to support its clinical program, follow-on pipeline and initial public offering preparations.