Eli Lilly on Tuesday announced plans to acquire three companies for almost $4 billion in cash, as it looks to expand its research and development business into infectious diseases.
The company said it had agreed deals to buy Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics and Vaccine Company for $1.5 billion, $780 million and $1.55 billion, respectively.
Shares of Eli Lilly rose 1.3% in premarket trading on the news.
“These acquisitions reflect a deliberate strategy to prevent disease at its source rather than treat its consequences,” Daniel M. Skovronsky, chief scientific and product officer and president, said in a statement.
Curevo has developed a vaccine for the prevention of shingles in adults and was specifically engineered with a synthetic adjuvant to increase immune system tolerability and reduce side effects.
LimmaTech aims to tackle bacterial pathogens, including sexually transmitted infections like Neisseria gonorrhoeae and chlamydia trachomatis, where there’s increased antimicrobial drug resistance.
The Vaccine Company is developing In Vivo Nanoparticle (IVN) technologies that utilize tiny particles to safely deliver drugs, genetic material or diagnostic sensors into the living body and combat viral pathogens, including the Epstein-Barr Virus.
