The world's largest drugmaker keeps getting bigger.
Eli Lilly continued its recent acquisition spree on Monday, acquiring to pay roughly $2.9 billion in cash for a biotechnology company developing treatments for autoimmune diseases.
Privately held Merida Biosciences is creating biologic drugs that target specific, harmful antibodies. Lilly will acquire the rights to Merida's lead asset, MER511, which is currently in early clinical development for Graves' disease and thyroid eye disease. The deal consideration includes an upfront cash payment and contingent milestone payments, Lilly said.
While investor attention largely has centered on Lilly's ever-expanding cancer portfolio, the Merida deal marks the drugmaker's latest move to bolster its immunology pipeline through strategic acquisitions. In February, Lilly agreed to buy Orna Therapeutics, a developer of therapies for B-cell-driven autoimmune diseases, in a $2.4 billion cash deal.
Lilly shares slipped 0.3% in premarket trading Monday. Futures tracking the benchmark S&P 500 were down nearly as much.
Mergers and acquisitions are an established playbook in the biopharmaceutical space. However, deal activity has ramped up this year, with a total $106 billion of capital deployed across 201 transactions through early June, according to PitchBook data.
Leading the charge is Lilly, the biggest pharmaceutical company by market capitalization. Lilly is leaning on the windfall generated by its weight-loss drug franchise as it searches for new growth drivers beyond its blockbuster GLP-1 medications.
Oncology has remained a central focus of Lilly's dealmaking strategy this year. The recent acquisitions of Kelonia Therapeutics and Ajax Therapeutics, both of which closed in the second quarter, built on the company's existing blood cancer franchise while aiming to close the gaps in current standard-of-care treatments.
In a bid to enter a new therapeutic area, Lilly completed its largest transaction of the year in late June, acquiring Centessa Pharmaceuticals for $7.8 billion. The deal brings Centessa's portfolio of treatments for neurological and sleep-wake disorders, including narcolepsy, under Lilly's umbrella.