Eli Lilly is spending nearly $4 billion to move into infectious disease prevention. The drugmaker announced Tuesday it has agreed to acquire three biotech firms: Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics, and the Vaccine Company.
LLY stock was up around 1.3% to 1.6% in premarket trading on the news.
The three deals are structured with upfront payments plus potential milestone payments tied to clinical and commercial progress. Combined, they total up to approximately $3.83 billion.
The move marks a clear strategic shift for a company best known for its blockbuster GLP-1 drugs. Lilly’s chief scientific and product officer Daniel Skovronsky summed it up plainly: “These acquisitions reflect a deliberate strategy to prevent disease at its source rather than treat its consequences.”
Curevo is the largest of the three deals at up to $1.5 billion. The company has developed a shingles vaccine engineered with a synthetic adjuvant — designed to boost the immune response while reducing side effects compared to existing options.
The Vaccine Company comes in just behind at up to $1.55 billion. It is developing In Vivo Nanoparticle technology to target viral pathogens, with its lead focus on the Epstein-Barr virus — a highly contagious infection with no approved vaccine currently on the market.
LimmaTech rounds out the trio at up to $780 million. Its pipeline targets bacterial pathogens, including Neisseria gonorrhoeae and chlamydia trachomatis — pathogens where antibiotic resistance is becoming a growing clinical problem.
Lilly’s acquisition spree is being bankrolled by the massive commercial success of its obesity and diabetes drugs. In Q1, U.S. revenue for Zepbound came in at $4.16 billion, while Mounjaro brought in $4.2 billion.
That cash has given Lilly room to expand well beyond its weight-loss franchise. These three vaccine deals follow a pattern of Lilly deploying capital into new therapeutic areas as it builds out a broader pipeline.
The company currently holds a 60.1% share of the U.S. obesity drug market, with rival Novo Nordisk sitting at 39.4%. Lilly also recently launched Foundayo, its newly approved GLP-1 obesity pill, in Q2.
Each of the three targets a distinct area where approved vaccines either don’t exist or have room for improvement.
Shingles affects roughly one in three people in the U.S. over a lifetime. The Epstein-Barr virus infects an estimated 90% of adults globally and has been linked to certain cancers and multiple sclerosis. Bacterial STIs like gonorrhea are seeing rising resistance to existing antibiotic treatments.
Lilly has not disclosed the specific upfront payment amounts for any of the three deals, only the total potential deal values inclusive of milestones.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the deals on Tuesday morning before Lilly’s official announcement.
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