AstraZeneca teams with insitro in up to $1.5 billion AI partnership to target MASH and cardiomyopathies

AstraZeneca announced a partnership with AI-driven biotech insitro, committing up to $1.5 billion to discover new drug targets for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and cardiomyopathies.

The collaboration will use insitro’s Virtual Human AI platform to identify causal disease biology, after AstraZeneca’s recent Phase 3 setback with the Ionis‑partnered Wainua program for transthyretin‑mediated amyloid cardiomyopathy.

Insitro will receive $40 million upfront and could earn up to $1.46 billion in milestone payments, plus future royalties, as the companies advance promising candidates through development.

The deal expands AstraZeneca’s existing MASH pipeline, which already includes the Phase 1 anti‑fibrotic candidate AZD2389, and reflects a broader industry trend of leveraging AI to accelerate target discovery.