Eli Lilly bets $1.3B on Superluminal's GPCR platform to target obesity and heart disease

Eli Lilly signed a $1.3 billion deal with Superluminal Medicines to co-develop small molecule drugs for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases using Superluminal’s GPCR drug discovery platform. The deal includes upfront, milestone payments, and equity investment. Superluminal also earns tiered royalties on sales of any approved drugs.

Why it matters: This deal strengthens Lilly’s obesity pipeline and advances treatments for hard-to-target GPCRs, potentially unlocking novel therapies for widespread and challenging conditions.

Backstory: Lilly previously backed Superluminal’s $120M Series A in 2024. The biotech also operates from Lilly’s Gateway Labs in Boston and is preparing to bring its first obesity drug into clinical trials next year.

New target: Superluminal lead asset is an MC4R agonist, a class of molecules that activate the MC4R, a GPCR present in the brain that plays a crucial role in regulating appetite, energy expenditure and physiological processes. GPCRs are one of the most underexplored drug target classes. Only 30% of GPCRs have been drugged, despite being involved in numerous diseases.

• Several players including Septerna, Boehringer Ingelheim, and Tectonic are also racing to harness GPCRs’ untapped potential.

Big picture: The partnership gives Lilly exclusive rights to develop and commercialize drugs from Superluminal's platform, signaling a shift toward next-generation obesity and metabolic therapies amid recent GLP-1 setbacks and underwhelming trial results for Lilly’s experimental oral GLP-1.