AtaiBeckley (ATAI) Stock Surges 34% as Eli Lilly Agrees to Buy Psychedelic Drugmaker

TLDR

• Eli Lilly agreed to acquire AtaiBeckley for $6.75 per share in cash, valuing the deal at $2.8 billion upfront
• AtaiBeckley stock jumped 34% in premarket trading Thursday, initially spiking over 50% on the Bloomberg report
• The purchase price is a 40% premium to AtaiBeckley’s 30-day volume-weighted average price
• Shareholders may receive up to an additional $2.50 per share upon hitting developmental and regulatory milestones
• Other psychedelic drug stocks also rallied, with GH Research up 15% and Compass Pathways up 7%

Eli Lilly has agreed to buy psychedelic drugmaker AtaiBeckley in a deal worth up to $2.8 billion upfront, sending ATAI stock up 34% in premarket trading on Thursday.

Atai Beckley Inc., ATAI

AtaiBeckley was trading at $7.19 premarket, up 34.2%. The stock initially jumped more than 50% after Bloomberg reported late Wednesday that Lilly was negotiating a deal at a premium.

Lilly is paying $6.75 per share in cash. On top of that, AtaiBeckley shareholders could receive up to $2.50 more per share if certain development and regulatory milestones are hit.

The $6.75 per share price represents a 40% premium to AtaiBeckley’s 30-day volume-weighted average price.

ATAI stock was already up 31% year-to-date through Wednesday’s close before this deal was announced.

A big chunk of that 2025 gain came in April, when ATAI jumped 22% in a single day after President Trump signed a directive to speed up FDA review of psychedelic drugs for serious mental illnesses.

AtaiBeckley’s lead program is BPL-003, an intranasal formulation of 5-MeO-DMT being developed for treatment-resistant depression.

A Busy Week for Psychedelic Stocks

The deal lifted other names in the psychedelic space too. GH Research rose 15%, Compass Pathways gained 7%, Definium Therapeutics climbed 6%, and Enveric Biosciences added 3% in premarket trading.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Evan Seigerman noted that while the deal could exceed $2 billion, ongoing talks with other pharmaceutical companies could push the takeout price even higher.

RBC Capital Markets analyst Brian Abrahams said the psychedelic sector is likely to keep rallying and is moving toward the mainstream.

Lilly’s Neuroscience Push

This deal fits a pattern for Lilly, which has been active on the acquisition front — particularly in neuroscience. The company’s most recent big move was the $7.8 billion buyout of sleep-disorder drugmaker Centessa Pharmaceuticals.

Lilly stock was largely flat on Thursday, up just 0.3% premarket.

AtaiBeckley’s market cap stood at $1.97 billion as of Wednesday’s close, according to LSEG data.

The combined upfront and milestone consideration puts the total potential deal value at $9.25 per share.

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