Lilly's $2.9B deal adds treatments for Graves' disease and food allergies

Eli Lilly announced a deal to acquire Merida Biosciences for up to about $2.88-2.9 billion in cash, expanding its immunology and allergic-disease portfolio beyond its obesity and diabetes drugs. Merida’s lead program, MER511, targets Graves’ disease and thyroid eye disease, while MER769 is being developed for food allergies, asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria. Early data on MER511 show reductions in thyroid-stimulating antibodies with a favorable safety profile. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals. Lilly has been aggressively expanding its pipeline through acquisitions in 2026, reflecting a strategic push to broaden beyond weight-management therapies. Executives emphasized that the deal would strengthen Lilly’s ability to meaningfully change the course of immune-related diseases.