Eli Lilly Strikes $2.9B Deal For Its 13th Acquisition This Year – As Fresh Zepbound Data Impresses

Lilly also announced that combining its inflammation treatment Taltz with Zepbound delivered lasting improvements in adults with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who were obese in two late trials.

• Merida’s lead drug, MER511, is in Phase 1 development for Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease related to the thyroid gland as well as thyroid eye disease.
• Merida is also developing MER769 for food allergies, asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria, a type of skin disease.
• After 52 weeks, 30.6% of patients with psoriasis receiving combination therapy achieved complete skin clearance and lost at least 10% of their body weight, compared with 4.4% on Taltz alone.

Eli Lilly’s (LLY) acquisition spree continued after the pharmaceutical behemoth agreed to acquire Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875 billion in cash, in a bid to strengthen its autoimmune and allergic diseases portfolio.

If the deal goes through, it would mark Lilly’s 13th acquisition in 2026. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

At the time of writing, LLY shares edged marginally lower in pre-market trading and are on track to post a fifth straight session of declines. However, the stock has in general been on a positive run and is aiming for a fourth gain in five months.

What Merida Offers Lilly

Merida’s lead drug, MER511, is in Phase 1 development for Graves’ disease, an autoimmune disease related to the thyroid gland as well as thyroid eye disease. Early data show strong reductions in harmful thyroid-stimulating antibodies, along with a favorable initial safety profile.

Around 3 million Americans have Graves’ disease, while around 25% to 40% of the patients develop thyroid eye disease, the company said. In severe cases, thyroid eye disease can result in vision loss.

Merida is also developing MER769 for food allergies, asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria, a type of skin disease.

Lilly’s Buying Spree Continues

The agreement extends a very active year for Lilly. The pharmaceutical giant has now signed agreements to acquire 13 firms this year as it looks to expand beyond its weight-loss portfolio and strengthen its oncology pipeline.

Lilly’s Taltz-Zepbound Combination Shows Better Results Than Monotherapy  

Separately, Lilly announced that combining its inflammation treatment Taltz with Zepbound delivered lasting improvements in adults with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis who were also obese in two Phase 3b trials.

After 52 weeks, 30.6% of patients with psoriasis receiving both drugs achieved complete skin clearance and lost at least 10% of their body weight, compared with 4.4% on Taltz alone. Among psoriatic arthritis patients, 39.2% taking the combination recorded at least a 50% improvement in disease activity and 10% weight loss, versus 1.7% in monotherapy.

The combination also improved body mass index, blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol, and systemic inflammation. Adverse events were generally mild to moderate and consistent with the drugs’ established safety profiles. Lilly plans to present detailed results at future medical meetings.

Meanwhile, retail sentiment surrounding LLY on Stocktwits remained ‘bearish’ over the past 24 hours.

The stock has gained more than 8% so far this year, outperforming rival Novo Nordisk’s (NVO) 13% decline.

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