“This deal [with Eli Lilly, announced on Sunday 29 March] is a combination of an asset licensing and collaboration. We’ve collaborated with Lilly in the past and they are actually one of the most active and expert users of our software,” says Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and co-CEO of Insilico Medicine. Zhavoronkov joins Bloomberg Intelligence pharmaceuticals analyst Sam Fazeli to explain how Insilico is using AI to compress drug-discovery timelines from years to months, pursue novel targets and compete with both big pharma and China’s fastest-moving biotech players. They also discuss the company’s rapid Lilly deal and why AI’s real edge may be before the clinic, not inside it.