Andrii Buvailo, PhD

I wrote a longer piece looking at the institutional and economic implications of this shift — how a metabolic drug class moved from diabetes clinics to trillion-dollar valuations and policy debates.

If interested, here it is:
medium.com/@editor_243...

At recent scientific meetings, I noticed another shift in framing.

Researchers are increasingly discussing GLP-1 drugs in the context of long-term disease delay, as tools that may influence how populations age by reducing major metabolic risks.

That is still being studied...

GLP-1 drugs — such as semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) — were originally developed for type 2 diabetes.

They mimic a gut hormone involved in appetite and insulin regulation.

What surprised many observers was the scale of their broader impact.

Eli Lilly recently became the first pharmaceutical company in history to cross a $1 trillion market valuation.

The main driver wasn’t oncology or gene therapy.

It was a class of metabolic drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.

When applied in the real world, it increased output materially.
All in all, AI in pharma isn’t an “easy button” for discovery timelines.
But in structured, repeatable environments like manufacturing and operations, it is already generating real operational and revenue impact.

3. Digital twins in production

Lilly created a digital twin of a critical manufacturing step for a GLP-1 drug, modeling equipment, process inputs, temperature behavior, and performance variables. After running large-scale simulations, outperformed the original setup.

2. Demand forecasting and supply chain optimization

Pharma supply chains are complex and highly sensitive to demand swings. Machine learning models analyze patterns across production, logistics, and market signals to predict demand more accurately than traditional planning.

1. Manufacturing quality control

Lilly uses AI-driven computer vision to take 70–80 images of every autoinjector in milliseconds. The system checks for microscopic defects at a speed and consistency humans can’t match. That directly improves product safety, reduces waste.

What is more interesting is where AI is already delivering measurable results, according to Diogo:

But in a new interview for MedCityNews, Diogo Rau clarified that AI is not going to turn 10-year development cycles into 2-year breakthroughs. Even if you optimize everything computationally, biology still takes time. Clinical validation still takes time...

Here are 3 real-life AI uses beyond the drug discovery hype, according to Diogo Rau, CIDO at Eli Lilly.

With Lilly announcing a $1B AI innovation lab with Nvidia, most headlines focused on AI-powered drug discovery.

The one career move that gave me more leverage than my PhD...
medium.com/@editor_243...

A Thought About Aging I Can’t Unsee We are not one organism.

Longevity isn't just about fixing bodies.
It's about managing ecosystems, biological, microbial, and institutional.
Because we aren’t just bodies moving through time.
We’re environments embedded in bigger ones...

Read to delve deeper: www.moleculesempires.com/p/a-thought...

Some societies will design systems that protect and support this balance.
Others won’t.
And over time, that difference might quietly decide who gets to age well — and who doesn’t.

Zoom out and the story shifts.
Aging isn’t just personal decay.
It’s shaped by how well our inner ecosystems hold up against stress, infection, imbalance.
And how society chooses to manage that complexity.

Why this matters:
If aging is ecological, the solution isn’t just pills and surgeries.
It’s:
— Better diets
— Microbiome-safe drugs
— Public health that supports immune resilience
— Even new delivery systems like nasal sprays targeting the brain-gut axis

Cancer researchers already know:
Patients on antibiotics often respond worse to immunotherapy.
Some even recover after a fecal microbiota transplant (yes, seriously).
Your microbiome can make or break cutting-edge treatment.

Cancer researchers already know:
Patients on antibiotics often respond worse to immunotherapy.
Some even recover after a fecal microbiota transplant (yes, seriously).
Your microbiome can make or break cutting-edge treatment.

Cancer researchers already know:
Patients on antibiotics often respond worse to immunotherapy.
Some even recover after a fecal microbiota transplant (yes, seriously).
Your microbiome can make or break cutting-edge treatment.

Cancer researchers already know:
Patients on antibiotics often respond worse to immunotherapy.
Some even recover after a fecal microbiota transplant (yes, seriously).
Your microbiome can make or break cutting-edge treatment.

A CEO of Maxwell Biosciences, a cutting-edge biotech in the antimicrobial space, put it bluntly:

“Aging should be treated as a communicable disease.”
Why?
Because persistent pathogens + imbalanced microbiomes don’t just accompany aging…
They drive it.

Dysbiosis isn’t rare.
Stress, processed diets, antibiotics, and infections destabilize the microbiome.
And when that happens for decades, the result isn’t just bad digestion — it’s accelerated aging.

Your gut hosts over 1,000 species of bacteria.
They digest food, regulate immunity, balance metabolism.
And when that microbial balance breaks (dysbiosis), the system goes haywire:
→ Chronic inflammation
→ Immune decline
→ Stem cell exhaustion

Modern aging theory says the body wears down:
DNA breaks. Cells go senescent. Organs fail.
Medicine responds like a mechanic: repair, replace, manage damage.
But what if aging isn’t just breakdown?
What if it’s ecological collapse?

Here’s a thought I can’t unsee:
You are not a single organism.
You’re a biological ecosystem — 30 trillion human cells coexisting with 40 trillion microbes.
This changes everything about how we think about aging. 🧵

Big Pharma’s China Deal Wave & 12 Companies on Our Radar A snap look at some of the deal dynamics and company platforms pulling global pharma toward China

When it comes to China, nothing is to be taken lightly…
Here is a nice brief from the BiopharmaTrend team about recent activity and notable players in the West-China biotech scene.
www.techlifesci.com/p/big-pharm...

Big Pharma’s China Deal Wave & 12 Companies on Our Radar A snap look at some of the deal dynamics and company platforms pulling global pharma toward China

China's biotech scene is no joke. Check out this sharp update from the BiopharmaTrend team, spotlighting key movements and standout players in the West-China biotech landscape. Dive in here: www.techlifesci.com/p/big-pharm...

Big Pharma’s China Deal Wave & 12 Companies on Our Radar A snap look at some of the deal dynamics and company platforms pulling global pharma toward China

When it comes to China, nothing is to be taken lightly…

open.substack.com/pub/andriibu...

Gatekeepers of the New Baseline GLP-1 drugs, longevity, and the real cost of controlling human metabolism

GLP-1s are just the beginning.

When a drug changes what “normal” looks like…
It doesn’t just rewrite medicine.
It reorganizes institutions, economics, and culture.

Welcome to the age of metabolic control.

Full article here: www.moleculesempires.com/p/gatekeepe...

What’s happening with GLP-1s is bigger than obesity.
They’re becoming pillars of modern care—tied to insurance decisions, employer budgets, and national health policy.

The question is no longer “should I try it?”
It’s:

“Can I afford not to be on it?”