Collaboration focused on undisclosed GPCR targets
Company to receive an upfront and near-term payments, including an equity investment, as wellas additional development and commercial milestones, and tiered royalties
Boston, MA — August 14, 2025 — Superluminal Medicines, a drug discovery companyintegrating AI/ML, protein dynamics, and structural biology to rapidly unlock the mostchallenging G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), today announced a collaboration with Eli Lillyand Company (“Lilly”) to advance small molecule therapeutics targeting undisclosed GPCRtargets relevant to cardiometabolic diseases and obesity. The collaboration will leverageSuperluminal’s cutting-edge, structure-based drug discovery platform, combined with Lilly’ssmall molecule development and commercialization expertise, to rapidly advance potentiallylife-changing therapeutics.
“Our collaboration with Lilly is a defining moment for Superluminal, and a testament to the powerof our platform to deliver high-quality development candidates against historically intractableGPCR targets,” said Cony D’Cruz, CEO of Superluminal. “Together, we aim to develop nextgeneration medicines that address the urgent and growing global burden of cardiometabolicdisease. We are very excited to be embarking on this collaboration just as we begin to advanceour internal drug candidate targeting rare genetic forms of obesity and hypothalamic obesity,and we are committed to bringing safe, efficacious, novel treatments to patients affected bythese challenging conditions.”
Under the terms of the agreement with Lilly, Superluminal will apply its proprietary platform todiscover and optimize small-molecule therapeutics for undisclosed GPCR targets relevant tocardiometabolic diseases and obesity. Lilly will receive exclusive rights to develop andcommercialize compounds arising from the collaboration after Superluminal deliversdevelopment candidates that meet predefined criteria. Superluminal is eligible to receive up to$1.3 billion, which includes upfront and near-term payments, an equity investment, developmentand commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on net sales.
Superluminal’s platform integrates deep structural biology, machine learning, and proprietarypharmacokinetic and toxicology prediction tools to accelerate the discovery of candidate-readysmall molecules. Initial efforts have focused on GPCRs, a historically challenging target class,where functional selectivity and structural complexity demand next-generation computationalsolutions.Superluminal is headquartered in Lilly Gateway Labs, Boston, and is backed by a strong networkof investors, including RA Capital Management, Insight Partners, NVentures (NVIDIA’s venturecapital arm), Catalio Capital Management, Eli Lilly and Company, Gaingels, and Cooley.
About Superluminal Medicines
Superluminal’s platform has achieved a deep integration of AI/ML with biology, structuralbiology, and chemistry expertise to build the foundation for next-gen R&D and accelerate thediscovery of candidate-ready compounds. The predict-design-test architecture accuratelymodels protein shapes and designs highly selective compounds to target the precise structuralchange for therapeutic effect. Its discovery engine is powered by an industry-leading,pharmacokinetic and toxicology in silico prediction capability. The company’s proprietarypipeline validates its platform with initial programs focused on high-value GPCR targets,including its wholly owned lead program, a best-in-class, selective, and biased MC4R agonist forthe treatment of obesity, which is expected to enter the clinic in 2026.