Lilly taps Nimbus for another obesity candidate

For a second time, Eli Lilly has turned to Boston biotech Nimbus Therapeutics to add a potential weight loss therapy to its pipeline.

The latest agreement, which could be worth upwards of $1.3 billion and includes upfront and near-term payments of around $55 million, focuses on "a novel oral treatment for obesity and other metabolic diseases," according to Nimbus, without providing further details.

Lilly and Nimbus started working together on a programme to develop small-molecule activators of AMPK, a regulator of cellular energy metabolism that is thought to switch the body from fat-storing to fat-burning mode. That deal included research, development, and commercial milestone payments up to $496 million.

Last year, the companies said they had achieved a significant preclinical milestone in the AMPK alliance, identifying a highly selective isoform-specific AMPK activator – something that Nimbus' R&D head Peter Tummino said had eluded drug developers for decades.

The new, multi-year research collaboration gives Lilly a worldwide license to the new candidate, identified using Nimbus' AI-enhanced computational drug discovery engine.

In a statement, Nimbus said it will now work with Lilly to "apply [a] computational chemistry and structure-based drug design approach to an early-stage, small molecule discovery programme addressing a significant unmet need in obesity."

Lilly has seen dramatic sales growth over the last couple of years from its injectable, dual GLP-1/GIP agonist obesity therapy Zepbound/Mounjaro (tirzepatide), and is hoping to add to its weight-loss stable with FDA approval for a new oral GLP-1 agonist, orforglipron, in the next few weeks.

With dozens of other candidates for obesity coming through the collective industry pipeline, directed at an expanding range of drug targets, the company has been actively building its pipeline with a series of licensing deals.

In 2025 alone, that included an $870 million collaboration with Camurus to apply its long-acting delivery technology to its injectable weight-loss candidates, which also include an experimental triple agonist – retatrutide – that achieved 29% weight loss in a phase 3 trial.

Last year also saw a $1.3 billion alliance with Superluminal to develop small molecule therapeutics targeting undisclosed GPCR targets involved in cardiometabolic diseases and obesity, and a $1.2 billion pact with SanegeneBio to seek out RNAi molecules against various metabolic targets.

Lilly's head of diabetes and metabolic R&D, Ruth Gimeno, said that Nimbus has "demonstrated exceptional ability to tackle complex drug discovery challenges," and the potential new therapy "represents an important addition to Lilly's efforts to advance innovative treatment options for patients."