Eli Lilly Unveils AI-Powered TuneLab to Speed Drug Discovery

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Eli Lilly (LLY.N) announced on Tuesday the launch of TuneLab, an artificial intelligence and machine learning platform designed to give biotech companies access to advanced drug discovery models trained on decades of Lilly’s research data.

The platform represents more than $1 billion in proprietary data investments and aims to level the playing field by letting smaller biotech firms access the same AI-driven tools Lilly scientists use internally.

“Lilly TuneLab was created to be an equalizer so that smaller companies can access some of the same AI capabilities used every day by Lilly scientists,” said Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly’s chief scientific officer.

Two biotech firms — Circle Pharma and insitro — are already early partners. Circle will apply TuneLab’s tools to cancer drug development, while insitro will contribute new AI models for small molecule discovery, enhancing TuneLab’s capabilities.

The move reflects a broader industry shift toward AI in research and development. Analysts at Jefferies forecast that AI-related R&D spend could reach $30–40 billion by 2040, as drugmakers adopt AI for discovery, testing, and reducing reliance on animal studies, in line with FDA goals.

TuneLab operates on datasets covering hundreds of thousands of unique molecules. In exchange for access, biotech partners provide their own training data, further strengthening the platform’s predictive power and long-term value.

Altai Capital Prepares Board Challenge at OraSure After Raising Stake

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Altai Capital Management is preparing to push for board representation at OraSure Technologies (OSUR.O) after raising its stake in the medical device maker from 3% to 5%, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The hedge fund, founded by Rishi Bajaj, plans to nominate two candidates, potentially including Bajaj himself, when two OraSure directors stand for reelection at the company’s 2025 annual meeting. The move follows growing investor frustration over OraSure’s performance and management decisions.

OraSure, best known for its COVID-19 rapid antigen tests, has seen its stock price fall 23% over the past year, though shares have recently recovered slightly to $3.25, valuing the firm at about $237 million.

Altai’s campaign comes after OraSure rejected a buyout bid from healthcare entrepreneur Ron Zwanziger, who had offered $3.50–$4 per share. While Altai and Zwanziger are not working together, both moves reflect mounting pressure on OraSure’s leadership.

Other investors, including Cannell Capital, have also called for a board refresh. “They have not executed,” Cannell said, adding that OraSure would benefit from “at least two new directors.”

Bajaj has experience with such campaigns. After joining the board of ContextLogic (Wish.com’s former parent) in 2023, he later became CEO, restructuring the company into a holding entity and helping its share price double. Investors see potential for a similar turnaround playbook at OraSure.

The company has attempted to diversify, acquiring Sherlock Biosciences for its molecular diagnostics platform, but remains a small player in a fragmented diagnostics market dominated by Danaher, Siemens, Roche, and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

EcoDataCenter Secures €600 Million to Expand AI Data Centres

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Swedish digital infrastructure firm EcoDataCenter announced on Tuesday that it has secured €600 million ($703.5 million) in debt financing from Deutsche Bank’s Private Credit and Infrastructure unit to accelerate its AI-focused data centre expansion.

The funding will be used to build large-scale facilities in Falun and Borlänge, north of Stockholm, aimed at handling compute-intensive AI workloads and next-generation high-performance computing.

CEO Peter Michelson, a former Ericsson executive, said the new financing provides a two-year runway, but suggested additional capital may be needed as demand for AI infrastructure accelerates.

“If we were to stop building tomorrow, we would be a highly profitable company… but we obviously have ambitions for much more than that,” Michelson told Reuters.

The deal follows €450 million raised earlier this year by EcoDataCenter’s owner Areim, bringing total financing since 2023 to €1.8 billion.

Sweden is becoming a European hub for AI data centres, with major expansions from Microsoft, Meta, and Alphabet driven by the country’s stable power grid and connectivity advantages.

EcoDataCenter, which opened its first site in 2019, counts clients such as DeepL and BMW. Last year, it partnered with CoreWeave to build one of Europe’s largest AI training clusters and now hosts a Nvidia Blackwell SuperPod for DeepL, underscoring its growing role in Europe’s AI infrastructure race.