Eli Lilly and Company announced on March 31 that it will be acquiring Boston- and London-based Centessa Pharmaceuticals.
Centessa Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company developing a new class of drugs for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and other neurological conditions. Centessa’s lead program is cleminorexton, formerly known as ORX750, which is undergoing a phase 2 study for two types of narcolepsy as well as idiopathic hypersomnia.
Eli Lilly is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, with offices in 18 countries. Eli Lilly discovers, develops, manufactures and sells pharmaceutical products worldwide. Its products are sold in 125 countries. According to its FY 2025 report, the company generated revenue of $65.2 billion and EBITDA of about $27.7 billion.
The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026. Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC is acting as exclusive financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP is acting as legal counsel to Eli Lilly. Centerview Partners LLC and Jefferies LLC are acting as financial advisors and Goodwin Procter LLP is acting as legal counsel to Centessa.
The upfront cash consideration represents an aggregate equity value of approximately $6.3 billion. The deal also includes a non-transferrable contingent value right (CVR) that entitles Centessa shareholders to a total of an additional $9 per share related to approval milestones for cleminorexton and ORX142 in the next several years. The CVR means Eli Lilly could also pay out an additional $1.5 billion within the next five years.
According to data captured in the LevinPro HC database, this deal marks the 34th Biotechnology acquisition of the year. This also represents the third largest Biotechnology deal by purchase price announced since January 1, 2026. The largest deal by purchase price announced in the specialty this year is Gilead’s $7.8 billion acquisition of Arcellx, a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on delivering a new class of immunotherapies for patients with cancer and other incurable diseases. Gilead announced that deal in February 2026. There were 136 Biotechnology acquisitions reported in 2025, and 139 announced in 2024.
