BY Richard SummerfieldEli Lilly and Company has announced a trio of deals which will see it acquire three companies, Curevo Inc, LimmaTech Biologics and Vaccine Company, Inc, in separate transactions for a potential combined total of around $3.8bn.According to a statement announcing the deals, Curevo shareholders could receive up to $1.5bn in cash, inclusive of an upfront payment, and a subsequent payment on achieving specified milestones. Curevo’s lead product candidate is amezosvatein, a shingles vaccine.LimmaTech will be acquired for up to $780m in cash, inclusive of an upfront payment and additional potential payments. Its lead programme, LTB-SA7, is in early-stage development as a vaccine against S. aureus, a leading cause of surgical-site infection.Lilly has also agreed to pay up to $1.55bn for Vaccine Company, which is developing a vaccine against the Epstein-Barr virus, a very common and highly contagious infection.“These acquisitions reflect a deliberate strategy to prevent disease at its source rather than treat its consequences,” said Daniel M. Skovronsky, chief scientific & product officer, and president of Lilly Research Laboratories. “Decades of evidence now link common infections to diseases that potentially emerge years later, including neurological disease, cancer and infertility. And as antimicrobial resistance erodes our ability to treat bacterial infections, vaccines are increasingly the only path to prevention. Combining these companies’ platforms and teams with Lilly’s global scale positions us to change that trajectory.”The deals are something of a step change for Eli Lilly, which is best known for cardiometabolic drugs. The company does, however, have some history with vaccines and infectious diseases, having previously played a pivotal role helping distribute the polio vaccine. More recently, it worked with AbCellera to develop antibody drugs for the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.To complement this push into infectious diseases, the company hired Peter Marks, the Food and Drug Administration’s former vaccine chief, as its head of infectious disease in 2025.The acquisitions are just the latest in a string of deals announced by Eli Lilly in 2026 so far. Indeed, the company is on something of a record spending spree, announcing acquisitions worth more than $20bn as the drugmaker expands beyond its blockbuster obesity franchise.In the weeks preceding the three vaccine-focused deals, the company also announced it had agreed a $7.8bn deal for sleep drugmaker Centessa Pharmaceuticals Plc and would spend up to $7bn for cancer drug developer Kelonia Therapeutics – two of its most expensive deals ever.The company’s spending spree has been facilitated by the strong sales of its fast-selling obesity and diabetes drugs. As a result, Eli Lilly has acquired 10 drugmakers to date this year, in areas such as oncology, immunology, neurology, genetic medicine and now infectious disease.News: Lilly to buy three vaccine developers for nearly $4 billion in infectious disease push
| # | Наименование новости | Тональность | Информативность | Дата публикации |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | UCB acquires Candid Therapeutics in $2.22bn deal | 0 | 0 | 05-05-2026 |
| 2 | GSK agrees $10.6bn Nuvalent deal | 0 | 0 | 11-06-2026 |
| 3 | Pandemic darlings Moderna, BioNTech are now on two different paths | 0 | 0 | 31-07-2025 |
| 4 | Chiesi Group to acquire KalVista in $1.9bn deal | 0 | 0 | 30-04-2026 |
| 5 | Bullish to acquire Equiniti for $4.2bn | 0 | 0 | 07-05-2026 |
| 6 | Moderna to slash 10% of workforce as biotech cuts costs, Covid shot sales slow | 0 | 0 | 31-07-2025 |
| 7 | Bass Berry, Foley Hoag Guide $272M AstroNova Take-Private | 0 | 0 | 17-06-2026 |
| 8 | Fox agrees $22bn Roku deal | 0 | 0 | 16-06-2026 |
| 9 | Aurobindo Pharma gets U.S. FTC go-ahead to acquire Lannett Company | 0 | 0 | 22-06-2026 |
| 10 | CRH acquires rival Arcosa in $8.5bn all-cash deal | 0 | 0 | 23-06-2026 |
