Schrödinger and Lilly Forge AI Alliance to Reshape Drug Discovery

NEW YORK, NY – January 09, 2026 – In a move poised to accelerate the pace of pharmaceutical innovation, computational drug discovery leader Schrödinger today announced a major collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company. The partnership will integrate Lilly's advanced artificial intelligence platform, TuneLab™, into Schrödinger's widely used LiveDesign enterprise informatics software, making powerful, data-driven AI models accessible to a broader swath of the biotechnology industry.

This strategic alliance pairs Lilly's massive, curated biological datasets and predictive AI with Schrödinger's best-in-class physics-based computational platform. The integration establishes LiveDesign as a priority interface for biotech companies to access TuneLab's workflows, aiming to democratize cutting-edge tools that were previously the domain of only the largest pharmaceutical giants.

“As a leader in computational drug discovery, Schrödinger is pleased to partner with Lilly TuneLab," stated Pat Lorton, chief technology officer and chief operating officer of software at Schrödinger. “We are pleased that LiveDesign will be a priority platform partner for TuneLab workflows, reflecting the demand for a unified enterprise informatics solution that democratizes access to AI models, physics-based calculations, and experimental data across discovery teams.”

A New Synergy of Physics and AI

The collaboration represents a powerful convergence of two distinct but complementary approaches to drug discovery. Schrödinger has built its reputation on a sophisticated platform that uses physics-based simulations to predict how molecules will behave, a method honed over more than three decades of research and development. Its LiveDesign platform functions as a cloud-native, collaborative hub where research teams can design, model, and analyze potential drug candidates in a unified environment.

Eli Lilly's TuneLab, launched in September 2025, brings a different kind of power to the table. The platform is the result of Lilly's deep investment in AI, with its models trained on one of the industry's most valuable proprietary datasets, representing over $1 billion in research investment. This data encompasses experimental results from hundreds of thousands of unique molecules, allowing TuneLab's AI to make highly accurate in silico predictions for critical drug properties, particularly in small molecule ADME (Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion) and antibody developability.

By embedding TuneLab within LiveDesign, scientists will be able to seamlessly move between designing a novel molecule using physics-based principles and instantly evaluating its potential viability using AI models trained on real-world data. This integration promises to dramatically shorten the design-test-learn cycle, allowing researchers to discard unpromising candidates earlier and focus resources on molecules with the highest probability of success.

“Schrödinger has a long history of working with partners to accelerate drug discovery. We are pleased to be partnering with Lilly to expand the use of digital drug design methods, and ultimately drive greater impact for patients,” said Karen Akinsanya, Schrödinger's president of R&D, therapeutics, and chief strategy officer, partnerships.

The 'Coopetition' Model: Privacy-First Collaboration

A cornerstone of the partnership—and what makes it a potential blueprint for the future of pharmaceutical R&D—is its privacy-first architecture. The collaboration utilizes a technology called federated learning, a decentralized AI training method that allows multiple organizations to build better models without ever sharing their sensitive, proprietary data.

In this framework, the core AI model can be improved by insights from each partner's private data, but the data itself never leaves the partner's secure environment. Only anonymized model updates are shared, protecting intellectual property while fostering collective progress. This approach of "sharing intelligence, not data" directly addresses the fierce competition and deep-seated concerns over IP that have traditionally hindered large-scale data sharing in the industry.

This model of "coopetition" is not without precedent. The successful MELLODDY project, which involved ten major pharmaceutical companies, previously demonstrated that federated learning could be used to train predictive models on a combined library of over 10 million molecules while ensuring each company's assets remained confidential. Lilly's TuneLab builds on this concept, creating a secure ecosystem where biotech partners contribute to and benefit from ever-improving AI models. For smaller biotechs, this provides an unprecedented opportunity to leverage a scale of data they could never accumulate on their own.

Solidifying a Central Hub for Digital Discovery

For Schrödinger, this alliance is a significant strategic victory that reinforces LiveDesign's position as an indispensable central platform in the digital drug discovery landscape. While the market includes formidable competitors like Dassault Systèmes' BIOVIA platform and Certara's biosimulation tools, the integration of TuneLab provides Schrödinger with a unique and powerful differentiator.

By becoming the priority gateway to Lilly's validated AI, LiveDesign evolves from a powerful toolkit into a dynamic ecosystem. This move is likely to increase the platform's "stickiness," making it an even more compelling choice for the 19 of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies that already license Schrödinger's software, as well as for emerging biotechs deciding on their foundational informatics infrastructure.

Analysts have noted Schrödinger's strategic pivot to emphasize its high-margin software business, and this partnership is a clear manifestation of that focus. While the specific financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, the long-term value is evident. The collaboration validates LiveDesign's market-leading status and creates a network effect: as more companies join the ecosystem to access TuneLab, the platform's value proposition for all users increases, driving further adoption.

Accelerating Adoption and Industry Impact

The potential for rapid and widespread adoption of this integrated platform is high. Lilly's TuneLab had already attracted around a dozen startup partners, including Circle Pharma and insitro, before the Schrödinger deal, signaling strong existing demand. By embedding these AI workflows directly into LiveDesign—a familiar interface for thousands of computational and medicinal chemists globally—the partners are significantly lowering the barrier to entry.

This collaboration aligns perfectly with the broader industry trend toward a digital-first R&D paradigm. As pressure mounts to reduce costs and shorten development timelines, pharmaceutical and biotech companies are increasingly turning to AI and machine learning to make research more efficient and predictive. The Schrödinger-Lilly partnership provides a ready-made, powerful solution that directly addresses this need.

The combined platform empowers scientists to ask more complex questions and receive data-driven answers in near real-time, transforming a process that once took weeks or months into one that can be accomplished in hours. By providing this capability within a secure, collaborative framework, Schrödinger and Lilly are not just offering a new tool, but are actively shaping a new, more efficient, and more interconnected future for drug discovery.