Rumour confirmed as Lilly buys Ventyx for $1.2 billion
Reports that Eli Lilly was eyeing a takeover of Ventyx Biosciences have been confirmed, suggesting 2026 could follow the bumper pharma M&A trend that started last year.
A report in the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter, suggested an announcement of a transaction could be made "imminently," and that proved to be correct as Lilly announced a $14-per-share offer for the company that valued it at $1.2 billion.
It comes as Amgen has just completed an $840 million acquisition of UK biotech Dark Blue Therapeutics, which is thought to be the first pharma M&A deal of 2026.
Shares in Ventyx – which has drugs in clinical trials for autoimmune, inflammatory, and neurodegenerative diseases – shot up nearly 58% in premarket trading after the rumour was published, taking its value well into unicorn territory.
The San Diego-based company's lead programme is an oral inhibitor of the inflammatory mediator NLRP3, VTX2735, which is in a phase 2 trial involving patients with recurrent pericarditis. The rare condition, associated with inflammation of the fluid-filled membrane that surrounds the heart, affects around 40,000 people in the US.
An interim analysis from the trial is scheduled to take place at an R&D update that will be hosted by Ventyx in the first quarter of this year, but the company has already demonstrated anti-inflammatory proof of principle with VTX2735 in an early-stage trial in cryopyrin-associated periodic syndromes (CAPS), a rare genetic disease involving overactive NLRP.
The readout of the pericarditis trial has been slightly delayed, but only to allow the inclusion of a new once-daily formulation of the drug along with the original twice-daily version, according to an R&D update provided by Ventyx last month.
Meanwhile, its pipeline also includes an NLRP3 inhibitor that is able to cross the blood-brain barrier and is in mid-stage testing for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, with positive biomarker data in hand, as well as obesity-associated cardiometabolic diseases.
The latter indication dovetails with Lilly's already-strong position in weight-loss therapies, pioneered by blockbuster injectable Zepbound/Mounjaro (tirzepatide) and oral orforglipron, which has been filed for approval in the US with a decision due within the next few weeks. This week, Lilly also agreed a second licensing deal for obesity candidates with Nimbus Therapeutics.
Ventyx's other major R&D track is in inflammatory bowel diseases, headed by tamuzimod (VTX002), which it describes as a potential best-in-class S1P receptor modulator that could compete with marketed drugs in the class like Bristol Myers Squibb's Zeposia (ozanimod) and Pfizer's Velsipity (etrasimod).
Phase 2 results published in The Lancet last year in moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis showed improvements in clinical and endoscopic remission rates compared to placebo, and it will complement Lilly's emerging presence in IBD with products like IL-23p19 inhibitor Omvoh (mirikizumab), which was approved for UC in 2023 and Crohn's disease last year.
"There is increasing evidence that inflammation is a key driver of many chronic diseases," said Daniel Skovronsky, Lilly's chief scientific and product officer.
"Ventyx's clinical-stage pipeline addresses a critical need for better treatment options across diseases mediated by chronic inflammation and further strengthens our ability to deliver meaningful advances for patients living with challenging diseases across focus areas of cardiometabolic health, neurodegeneration and autoimmunity."
