AstraZeneca and biotech company insitro announced a multi-year drug-discovery collaboration on October 15, 2026, focused on metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a serious liver disease, and cardiomyopathies, diseases of the heart muscle.
The deal is valued at up to about $1.5 billion, but only $40 million is upfront. The remaining approximately $1.46 billion depends on development and commercial milestones; insitro may also receive single-digit royalties on sales.
insitro will use its Virtual Human AI platform—which combines human and cellular data with machine learning—to investigate disease biology and advance AstraZeneca-nominated targets through discovery to development-candidate stage.
AstraZeneca will hold exclusive worldwide rights to selected programs and lead clinical development, regulatory work, and commercialization.
Sources:
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