Lilly Looks To Complement Mounjaro, Obesity Pipeline With Versanis Buyout

Looking to catch up with Novo Nordisk A/S and stay competitive in the burgeoning obesity/weight-loss therapy space, Eli Lilly and Company agreed to pay up to $1.925bn on 14 July for privately held Versanis Bio bringing in a Phase II obesity candidate that could offer therapeutic synergy with Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and a pair of late-stage candidates in development by the Indianapolis pharma.

The deal, centered on Versanis’s bimagrumab, an antibody that binds the activin type II A and B receptors, is Lilly’s fourth M&A transaction in the past four weeks and, following the 20 June buyout of DICE Therapeutics, Inc. and its oral IL-17 inhibitor for psoriasis, is the second that could surpass the billion-dollar mark for total value. In smaller transactions, Lilly acquired the privately held German cancer specialist Emergence Therapeutics AG and chronic disease-focused Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc