Eli Lilly announced Tuesday it will acquire Centessa Pharmaceuticals in a deal valued at around $6.3 billion. The offer comes in at $38 per share in cash for the Frankfurt-listed biotech.
Eli Lilly to Buy Centessa Pharmaceuticals for Initial $6.3 Billion https://t.co/eB6KJtTmyv
— WSJ Business News (@WSJbusiness) March 31, 2026
Lilly has also offered one non-transferrable contingent value right worth roughly $9 per share. If that CVR pays out, the total deal value rises to approximately $7.8 billion.
Centessa’s U.S.-listed stock surged 46% in premarket trading following the announcement. The jump reflects the premium Lilly is paying to get its hands on Centessa’s sleep medicine pipeline.
Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc, CNTA
The deal is focused on sleep-wake disorders, an area Lilly has not historically been active in. Centessa brings a targeted pipeline that Lilly is betting can reach the market.
This is Lilly’s second major deal announced in as many days. On Monday, the company confirmed a $2.75 billion agreement with Insilico Medicine to bring AI-discovered drugs to the global market.
That deal with Insilico, which uses artificial intelligence to identify drug candidates, signals Lilly’s interest in pairing traditional pharma development with newer technology-driven approaches.
The Centessa acquisition marks a clear strategic move into sleep-wake disorder treatments. It’s a category that has attracted growing attention from major drugmakers in recent years.
Centessa had been developing orexin receptor agonists, a class of drugs that target the brain’s wake-promoting system. These are seen as a promising avenue for treating conditions like narcolepsy and excessive daytime sleepiness.
Lilly’s willingness to pay a hefty premium suggests confidence in the pipeline’s clinical potential. The CVR structure also means some of the payout is tied to hitting future development milestones.
The Insilico deal, announced Monday, adds another dimension to Lilly’s recent activity. Insilico uses AI to design drug candidates from scratch, a process that can potentially cut early-stage development time.
Lilly said it would license and develop drugs discovered through Insilico’s platform. Financial terms beyond the $2.75 billion headline figure have not been fully disclosed.
Back-to-back announcements of this scale in 24 hours is unusual even for a company of Lilly’s size. LLY stock was trading up roughly 1% Tuesday morning as investors took in both deals.
Centessa’s Frankfurt-listed stock also moved sharply higher following the announcement, reflecting the cash offer sitting well above its recent trading price.
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