Eli Lilly’s Top Dealmaker Signals M&A Expansion Into New Therapeutic Areas
Eli Lilly, now the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, is aggressively expanding its dealmaking strategy, with its head of business development signaling that the company is open to acquisitions across all disease areas. Jacob Van Naarden, who oversees both Lilly’s oncology business and corporate business development, said the company’s financial strength—driven largely by its weight loss franchise—presents a “generational opportunity” to deploy capital.
Deal Spending Surges in 2026
Not even halfway through the year, Lilly has announced eight acquisitions with upfront payments exceeding $10 billion and potential total value of up to $25 billion. This compares to roughly $4 billion spent on about 40 deals in all of 2025. Van Naarden, speaking at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, said the company is executing a strategy to redeploy capital across all its disease areas to fuel growth for decades and help more patients.
Shift Toward Later-Stage, Higher-Value Assets
Lilly has historically focused on inexpensive, early-stage assets that carried higher risk. Now, the company is using the windfall from its GLP-1 drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound to pursue experimental medicines with greater probability of success—and larger price tags. “These things are medicines,” Van Naarden said in a separate interview at his Stamford, Connecticut office. “You can see enough to say OK, this is real, and we can underwrite paying a bigger price than we pay for some real preclinical thing.”
Leadership and Strategic Shift
Van Naarden said Lilly Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks approached him last fall about leading business development in addition to his role as head of Lilly’s oncology unit. The goal was to sharpen dealmaking skills and widen the company’s aperture beyond its traditional focus. Lilly’s market capitalization now stands at about $1 trillion, up from $190 billion in 2021, according to data from LSEG, making it the first health-care company to join the trillion-dollar club.
Market Context
As of June 3, 2026, the U.S. dollar traded at 72.56 Russian rubles (change: +1.01), while the euro stood at 84.61 rubles (change: -1.64). Bitcoin was at $66,988 (24-hour change: -3.5%). Oil was estimated at approximately $72 per barrel.