Lilly’s Alchemy: A Pharma Giant’s Gamble

by

Now, I’ve seen a good many things in my time – booms and busts, fortunes made and lost on the turn of a card, and enough snake oil salesmen to fill the Mississippi. This here talk of “artificial intelligence” being the next great thing… well, it strikes me as a bit like those fellas peddling elixirs that promised to cure everything from a cough to melancholy. Plenty of noise, but does it truly deliver? Seems to me we were getting along just fine without it a spell ago.

But there’s one corner of this newfangled world where it might just have some genuine merit – the concocting of medicines. And if you’re looking for a company betting big on this notion, you might do well to keep an eye on Eli Lilly. They’re not just dabbling, mind you; they’re practically building a whole new laboratory, powered by lightning in a bottle – or, as they call it, “AI.” And they’ve got a bit of help from a fellow named Nvidia, purveyors of the shiny bits that make it all hum.

Lilly’s Pursuit of the Philosopher’s Stone

Now, there are others poking around in this field – Recursion Pharmaceuticals and AbCellera Biologics, to name a couple. They’re offering their own AI-powered solutions, which is all well and good. But building and maintaining one of these “data centers” – a fancy name for a room full of blinking lights and whirring gears – requires a hefty sum. And Eli Lilly, being a company with pockets deeper than the Ohio River, seems to have the wherewithal to do it right.

Loading widget...

The real fun started last September, when Lilly unveiled its TuneLab platform. It’s a way for other drugmakers to peek inside Lilly’s brain, so to speak, and get a sense of how a new drug might perform. It’s not a substitute for good, old-fashioned testing, of course. But it can save a heap of time and money by helping folks focus on the most promising prospects. And in a business where bringing a single drug to market can cost a billion dollars, that’s no small feat.

But it was in October that things really got interesting. Lilly announced a partnership with Nvidia, pledging a billion dollars to build a supercomputer dedicated to, as their chief AI officer put it, “interrogating biology.” Interrogating, now that’s a strong word! Sounds like they’re planning a full-scale investigation of the human body. The aim is to understand disease better and, hopefully, come up with some cures. They’ve even built a co-innovation lab, where they’re sharing data in real time. It’s like a digital town square for scientists.

A Dividend Hunter’s Perspective

Now, I’m a man who appreciates a solid return on investment. And while this AI business is still in its early stages, there’s reason to be optimistic. The platform already has a few customers, and more are likely to come on board once they see what it can do. The industry itself is expected to grow at a clip of 30% a year through 2034, reaching a value of over $20 billion. That’s a tidy sum, to be sure.

Now, Eli Lilly’s current revenue is around $65 billion, so this AI business won’t be moving the needle overnight. But it will add a healthy stream to their coffers, and more importantly, it gives them a powerful platform for collaboration. Smaller pharmaceutical companies may come up with a groundbreaking drug, but they need a bigger partner to navigate the regulatory hurdles and get it to market. Lilly can provide that, and in return, they’ll get a share of the profits. It’s a win-win, as they say.

So, while I remain skeptical of all this “artificial intelligence” hullabaloo, I can’t help but admire Lilly’s ambition. They’re not just chasing the latest fad; they’re building a long-term asset that could generate dividends for years to come. And that, my friends, is something worth paying attention to.

Read More

2026-02-16 01:42