AstraZeneca signed a drug discovery and licensing agreement with insitro to apply the Virtual Human platform to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and cardiomyopathies. The deal includes a $40 million upfront payment and eligibility for up to $1.46 billion in development and commercial milestones. The partnership extends AZ’s push to use AI for causal biology identification, with insitro also receiving opportunities to progress selected targets from discovery into development candidate stages. If successful, it could tighten timelines from target identification to candidate selection in two high-cost, difficult-to-clinically-validate cardiometabolic programs.