{"id":1469,"date":"2026-05-27T03:01:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T03:01:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T10:01:43","slug":"lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Lilly goes on $20 billion buying spree as company seeks next act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Eli Lilly & Co. is on a record spending spree, announcing acquisitions worth more than $20 billion so far in 2026 as the drugmaker expands beyond its blockbuster obesity franchise.<\/p>\n

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In recent weeks, Lilly has pledged to shell out up to $7.8 billion for sleep drugmaker Centessa Pharmaceuticals Plc and up to $7 billion for cancer drug developer Kelonia Therapeutics \u2014 two of its most expensive deals ever. On Tuesday, it agreed to buy three vaccine developers for as much as $3.8 billion.<\/p>\n

The value of Lilly\u2019s deals is its highest ever in a year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The $20 billion figure includes milestone payments.<\/p>\n

There could be much more to come.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are making more offers than you can possibly imagine,\u201d Jake Van Naarden, Lilly\u2019s head of oncology and business development, said at a recent conference. \u201cWhat\u2019s interesting is how many of the multibillion dollar deals we are attempting to do and getting rebuffed with some frequency.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Naarden and his team evaluate \u201cat least\u201d 10 potential deals a week.<\/p>\n

The flurry of agreements shows how the world\u2019s largest pharmaceutical company is using the windfall from its weight-loss and diabetes shots to diversify its pipeline \u2014 mainly by targeting medicines in earlier stages rather than existing blockbusters. The company is already seeking its next act \u2014 and hoping to learn from past mistakes of not doing so sooner.<\/p>\n

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With a market capitalization around $1 trillion, investors still have high expectations for Lilly. That means it needs to avoid the pitfalls that have long plagued companies fortunate enough to have a wildly profitable drug. Lilly itself has fallen victim to that trap: In the early 2000s, the loss of patent protections on its blockbuster depression drug Prozac sent the company into a tailspin as it struggled for a decade to find its footing.<\/p>\n

Lilly still has about a decade of patent protection left on its best-selling diabetes and obesity drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound. However, executives say they don\u2019t want to rest on their laurels.<\/p>\n

Deals have become a key part of that strategy, helping Lilly grow quickly in areas like cancer and gene therapy where it wasn\u2019t as big of a player.<\/p>\n

In some cases, the company is placing bets in areas where others have struggled. It\u2019s investing heavily in gene therapy, an area of medicine that some drugmakers have abandoned because of its high costs and uncertain sales prospects. And Lilly\u2019s agreement with three vaccine makers is happening as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, leads the US Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThese acquisitions reflect a deliberate strategy to prevent disease at its source rather than treat its consequences,\u201d Dan Skovronsky, Lilly\u2019s chief scientific and product officer, said in a statement about the vaccine deals.<\/p>\n

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Early Stage Drugs<\/h4>\n

Under Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks, Lilly is investing earlier in a drug\u2019s life cycle, when medicines are typically cheaper than those that have completed large-scale clinical studies.<\/p>\n

While the company has continued to target drugs in earlier stages of development, recent deals have shown a new willingness to spend more on later-stage medicines that could give it a competitive edge in markets outside of obesity.<\/p>\n

About a third of Lilly\u2019s pipeline is now genetic medicines, most of which are still in the early stages of development. That includes a $1.1 billion deal with German biotech Seamless Therapeutics GmbH that Lilly inked in January to develop gene therapies for hearing loss.<\/p>\n

Hearing loss is one of the cornerstones of Lilly\u2019s genetic medicines portfolio. The company bought Akouos Inc. for about $487 million in 2022, gaining access to a treatment for hearing loss caused by genetic mutations. Two years later, an early stage trial of the medicine was hailed as a success when it allowed an 11-year-old boy to hear for the first time. That drug has now advanced to the next phase of testing.<\/p>\n

Immunology and neuroscience are two other areas where Lilly is hunting for deals to bolster existing businesses.<\/p>\n

The company tends to look for promising platforms or technologies in each area, rather than paying a premium for one specific drug. It\u2019s also investing heavily in artificial intelligence to develop novel treatments, inking a collaboration worth up to $2.25 billion with Profluent Inc. in April and another with Insilico Medicine Cayman TopCo in March worth up $2.75 billion.<\/p>\n

Lilly\u2019s intent is \u201cto aggressively reinvest obesity cash flows to enhance its pipeline,\u201d said Leerink Partners analyst David Risinger.<\/p>\n

\u2014With assistance from Fareed Sahloul and Michelle F. Davis.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a92026 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n

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There could be much more to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\nLilly goes on $20 billion buying spree as company seeks next act - Los Angeles Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lilly goes on $20 billion buying spree as company seeks next act - Los Angeles Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There could be much more to come.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/27\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Los Angeles Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T10:01:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/b7f420a994f0482cf24e152087599bfb\"},\"headline\":\"Lilly goes on $20 billion buying spree as company seeks next act\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-27T10:01:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":818,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/e085000fe7780c6e12e5c84b6fe32480.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/27\\\/lilly-goes-on-20-billion-buying-spree-as-company-seeks-next-act\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lilly goes on $20 billion buying spree as company seeks next act - 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