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Eli Lilly Introduces a New AI Platform, TuneLab AI, Supporting Biotech Startups

Life Sciences and Bio Pharma

Business Honor - Eli Lilly Launches TuneLab AI for Biotech Startups

Business Honor
11 September, 2025

Eli Lilly’s TuneLab uses AI and federated learning, supporting biotech startups to speed up their drug discovery while safeguarding their private data.

A new artificial intelligence tool named TuneLab is introduced by Eli Lilly in order to help early-stage biotech businesses find medicines quicker while safeguarding their data. Platform offers businesses access to advanced AI models that have been trained using Lilly's deep study, along with information on hundreds of thousands of unique molecules.

The aim is to help startup businesses find promising medicinal product candidates without risking their private data. With the support of Nvidia and Rhino Federated Computing, Lilly created a "federated system" that allows the AI models to learn directly from the data on each company's own systems. Without the data remaining under the company's control, the models are modified in response to local training.

Aliza Apple, the president of TuneLab, stated, "We're giving startups the opportunity to come up with strong artificial intelligence models while also improving these models with new findings." Businesses must have a small molecule or antibody therapeutic candidate in the preclinical stage in order to be qualified for the program. About a dozen businesses have become members so far, including Firefly Bio, Circle Pharma, Insitro, and Superluminal Medicines. These businesses are creating a number of technologies, from AI-powered tools aimed at proteins to treatments for cancer.

Lilly's broader Catalyze360 program, that supports early-stage biotech study, includes TuneLab. It involves access to a laboratory at Gateway Labs, funds from Lilly Ventures, and expert guidance through the ExploR&D program. Early this year, Lilly had partnered with a venture funding firm, Andreessen Horowitz, to start a new biotech investment fund. In the future, TuneLab might set new standards for the industry's use of AI technologies that transform and speed the introduction of more therapies, saving lives.