The news: Eli Lilly launched a platform called TuneLab that gives biotech firms free access to AI drug discovery models that have been trained on years of Lilly's research data. In return, companies will contribute their own data so that Lilly can improve the performance of its AI models.

Digging into the details: TuneLab will provide access to algorithms that help determine if a potential drug will be safe and effective, with an initial focus on small molecules and antibody therapeutics. Lilly plans to add more models to the platform in the future.

On the back end of TuneLab, Lilly says it will ensure that training data submitted by partner companies will be kept private. Lilly’s models should become more generalizable and accurate over time as data is continuously submitted, in turn accelerating future drug discoveries.

The bigger picture: Tech giants and pharma companies have been ramping up investments in AI for drug discovery and development. AI can help speed up the process of identifying drug targets and designing molecules since it rapidly analyzes large datasets.

However, many smaller biotech players lack the resources and access to large-scale data to train and develop potent AI models. For instance, Lilly estimated that this first release of AI models includes proprietary data obtained for over $1 billion—likely an unattainable cost for smaller companies with shallower pockets than Big Pharmas.