In 2025, Eli Lilly and Company approached dealmaking from a position of strength. With blockbuster brands driving growth and a robust internal pipeline, the company did not rely on deals to reinvent itself. Instead, Lilly used targeted partnerships and acquisitions as strategic tools—to expand scientific reach, reinforce leadership in high-growth areas, and prepare for the next wave of innovation.
The year’s transactions reflect a clear pattern: future-oriented science, selective risk-taking, and operational readiness. Rather than pursuing scale through consolidation, Lilly focused on deals that extend its capabilities in gene editing, AI-driven discovery, long-acting drug delivery, and next-generation biologics.
A Strategy Anchored in Long-Term Innovation
Lilly’s 2025 deals underline its belief that future growth will come from advanced modalities and platform technologies, not just incremental pipeline additions. The company leaned into areas that could redefine treatment paradigms—cardiovascular gene editing, AI-generated molecules, and novel antibody platforms—while continuing to strengthen its metabolic and obesity leadership.
This approach positions Lilly not only to defend its current franchises, but also to shape entirely new categories of care over the next decade.
Gene Editing Signals a Move Toward One-Time Therapies
A standout move in 2025 was Lilly’s acquisition of Verve Therapeutics, a clinical-stage company developing in vivo gene-editing therapies for cardiovascular disease. Verve’s lead program targets the PCSK9 gene, aiming to permanently lower cholesterol with a single treatment.
Strategically, the deal expands Lilly’s presence in precision genetic medicine and reflects a longer-term vision where chronic diseases may be treated with one-time or infrequent interventions. It also signals Lilly’s willingness to invest early in high-impact science with transformative potential.
AI Partnerships to Accelerate Discovery
Lilly deepened its commitment to artificial intelligence through multiple collaborations in 2025. A high-profile partnership with Superluminal Medicines focused on using AI to discover novel small-molecule drugs for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases. Separately, Lilly expanded AI-driven research efforts through a collaboration with Insilico Medicine, aimed at speeding up early discovery and candidate selection.
Together, these deals reinforce AI as a core enabler of productivity and speed, supporting Lilly’s belief that technology-driven discovery will increasingly differentiate winners in biopharma.
Platform Technologies to Extend the Pipeline
Beyond AI and gene editing, Lilly invested in next-generation biologics and delivery platforms. A multi-program collaboration with ABL Bio gave Lilly access to bispecific antibody technologies with applications across oncology and neuroscience. Meanwhile, a licensing agreement with Camurus brought long-acting drug delivery technology into Lilly’s incretin portfolio, supporting future obesity and diabetes therapies with improved dosing profiles.
These partnerships reflect a strategy of platform leverage—building reusable technologies that can generate multiple assets over time.
Portfolio Optimization and Commercial Focus
In parallel with growth-oriented deals, Lilly also streamlined its portfolio. The sale of regional commercial rights for Cialis in parts of Latin America allowed the company to sharpen focus on priority growth areas while maintaining patient access through local partners.
This balance of investment and optimization highlights Lilly’s disciplined capital allocation in 2025.
What 2025 Signals About the Future
Taken together, Lilly’s 2025 deals paint the picture of a company planning beyond the current cycle. The emphasis on gene editing, AI, biologics platforms, and long-acting delivery suggests that Lilly is positioning itself for a future where:
- Chronic diseases may be treated more definitively
- Drug discovery timelines are shorter and more data-driven
- Platform technologies create sustained pipelines, not one-off wins
As Lilly enters 2026, its deal activity in 2025 leaves the company well prepared—not just to scale existing successes, but to define the next generation of medicines in an increasingly competitive global biopharma landscape.
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