Eli Lilly stepped in as the anchor investor for Aktis Oncology’s initial public offering, underpinning a $318 million raise that underscores Lilly’s commitment to targeted radiopharmaceuticals. The agreement, struck in late 2025, gives Lilly the right to collaborate on Aktis’s proprietary miniprotein platform in a partnership valued at up to $1.2 billion. This strategic investment expands Lilly’s footprint in alpha-emitting therapies for solid tumors and positions the company to leverage Aktis’s actinium-225 and bismuth-213 candidates against Nectin-4 and B7-H3 targets. Investors view the deal as a signal that Lilly is accelerating its oncology pipeline diversification into novel radioconjugate approaches.

In January 2026, Lilly announced a multi-year collaboration with Chai Discovery to co-develop AI-designed biologic therapeutics. Under the agreement, Chai will build bespoke machine-learning models trained on Lilly’s proprietary datasets to drive zero-shot antibody and peptide design. The partnership follows Chai’s $230 million Series B financing, which valued the startup at $1.3 billion. Lilly intends to apply Chai’s technology to multiple immuno-oncology and metabolic targets, aiming to slash discovery timelines from months to weeks. Financial terms include an upfront payment and tiered development milestones, positioning Lilly to capture significant royalty streams on any candidate that advances to clinical proof-of-concept.

Lilly reported positive data from the TOGETHER-PsA study combining tirzepatide with ixekizumab in patients with psoriatic arthritis and obesity. The dual regimen achieved a 31.7% response rate at 24 weeks versus 0.8% for ixekizumab alone on the primary composite endpoint, representing a 64% relative improvement in ACR50 measures. Average weight loss in the combination arm exceeded 10% of baseline body weight, compared with under 1% for monotherapy. Adverse events were predominantly mild to moderate gastrointestinal and injection-site reactions, consistent with known safety profiles. Management guided that these results could expand the clinical use of tirzepatide beyond metabolic indications and drive additional market penetration for both brands.