AstraZeneca Partners With Insitro to Develop Cardiometabolic Therapies

06:32 AM EDT, 10/15/2026 (MT Newswires) -- AstraZeneca (AZN.L, AZN.ST) signed a drug discovery and licensing agreement with U.S. artificial intelligence therapeutics company insitro to identify drug targets and develop treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis and cardiomyopathies. Under the deal, insitro's Virtual Human AI platform will be used to identify causal disease biology across both indications and advance AstraZeneca-nominated targets from discovery through to development candidate, according to a Thursday release. Insitro will receive an upfront payment of $40 million and is eligible for up to $1.46 billion in potential milestones, plus potential single-digit royalties on global commercial sales. AstraZeneca will have exclusive worldwide rights to advance the selected programs identified under the partnership.