New York, Jan 8, 2026, 08:36 EST — Premarket
- Eli Lilly shares were up 4.1% premarket after it agreed to buy Ventyx Biosciences for $1.2 billion in cash
- The purchase adds oral inflammation assets as Lilly looks beyond its blockbuster diabetes and obesity drugs
- Focus shifts to pipeline details and spend outlook heading into Lilly’s next earnings call
Eli Lilly shares were up 4.1% at $1,108.09 in premarket trade on Thursday after the drugmaker agreed to buy autoimmune-focused biotech Ventyx Biosciences for $1.2 billion in cash. The deal adds oral drugs for inflammatory diseases and a mid-stage program tied to a cardiovascular condition linked to obesity. “We like that Lilly is taking chances on potentially transformative opportunities,” Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Carter Gould said. 1
The move matters because Lilly’s stock has become a proxy for the weight-loss boom, and investors are now looking for what comes after the first wave of GLP-1 wins. Deals that expand the pipeline — especially pills — can shift sentiment fast when expectations are already high.
On Tuesday, Nimbus Therapeutics said it struck a multi-year research and licensing deal with Lilly to develop artificial intelligence, or AI, driven oral treatments for obesity and other metabolic diseases. Lilly will pay $55 million upfront and in near-term milestones, with up to $1.3 billion more tied to development and commercial goals, plus royalties — a slice of future sales — if a drug is approved. 2
In the Ventyx transaction, Lilly will pay $14 a share in an all-cash deal and expects to close it in the first half of 2026, subject to Ventyx shareholder and regulatory approvals, the companies said. The price is about 62% above Ventyx’s 30-day volume-weighted average price through Jan. 5 — an average that gives more weight to days with heavier trading. Ventyx’s lead work includes NLRP3 inhibitors, aimed at blocking a protein complex involved in triggering inflammation; Lilly research chief Daniel Skovronsky said inflammation is “a key driver of many chronic diseases.” 3
The risk is that the science does not travel. Ventyx’s drugs are still in clinical development, and setbacks in trials can wipe out years of deal logic in a single data readout.
For Thursday’s session, traders will watch whether Lilly holds the $1,100 area once the cash market opens and whether fresh deal chatter pulls other biotech names with inflammation assets into play. Any hint that Lilly is turning more aggressive on M&A could also bring valuation questions back into the frame.
Investors are also likely to press management on how quickly Lilly can turn research-heavy bets into nearer-term products, and whether spending ramps again in 2026 as it juggles obesity, metabolic disease and a broader inflammation push.
