Michelle Cortez, who edits global business coverage for Bloomberg News, explains what Eli Lilly is buying in Merida Biosciences, why the company is running a high-frequency, low-value deal program instead of one large acquisition, and how long the patents on its weight-loss franchise actually have to run. This is the third of four guest segments in the episode, each summarized separately.
👤 Guest: Michelle Cortez, senior editor for global business at Bloomberg News, based in Washington, D.C.
🎙️ Hosts: Paul Sweeney and Scarlet Fu, who present Bloomberg Intelligence's weekday markets program
📰 Published: 31 August 2026 on the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast feed
🟢 Spotify | 🟣 Apple Podcasts | 🔗 Episode page | ⏱️ 22 min
Key Takeaways
Lilly is converting weight-loss profits into the income stream that has to replace them
"They're trying to put that to use so that when they do eventually lose some of that protection, some of that patent protection, they'll be able to have future income streams."
Immunology is where it is staking that claim, Cortez said
The deal program is high frequency and low value, which is unusual for large pharma
Cortez said Lilly has told Bloomberg "they've told us that they look at 10 different acquisitions every single week"
"I think the biggest deal that Lilly has ever done is sub $8 billion"
Regulators are not the audience for these deals; investors are
"You know, these acquisitions aren't really getting the attentions of regulators. It's getting a lot of attention from investors."
Prozac is why Lilly prefers to build, and the GLP-1s are why it thinks it can
"And then when they lost the patent protection on Prozac, they really had to scramble."
It was not first to obesity drugs — Novo Nordisk was — but it developed its own in-house
There is no target number of deals because the pressure is years away
"The patents that they have on these GLP-1 drugs, the shots, they have those for at least another decade."
Cortez put the point at which Lilly must show a replacement at another five to eight years
Lilly Is Spending Weight-Loss Money on the Income Stream That Has to Replace It
The show opened the segment on the day's deal — "Well, it's Monday, which means it's Merger Monday, which means a pharmaceutical company is out there buying another healthcare pharmaceutical slash biotech company." — and put the price on it: "And today it's Eli Lilly buying Merida Biosciences, $2.88 billion in cash."
The immunology bet is not new. "Well, Lilly has been making a bet on this particular space on immunology products for the last several years." The company already has a number of products there, Cortez said
The bigger story is what the deals are funded by. Lilly is putting the earnings from diabetes shots and weight-loss shots — drugs Cortez described as ubiquitous in the United States and the rest of the world — to work
"They're trying to put that to use so that when they do eventually lose some of that protection, some of that patent protection, they'll be able to have future income streams."
The timing is what makes it hard to see. "It's hard to look at now because they do make so much money from those."
"But immunology is a huge and growing area. And that's one of the areas where Lilly is really staking its claim."
Ten Targets Looked At a Week, and a Biggest-Ever Deal Under $8 Billion
A host pulled up Lilly's recent deal history on the Bloomberg Terminal and read it back: "Merida is just the latest for $2.9 billion, but in August, there were two purchases with some other companies, Indupro and Amplifica Holdings. In July, there was Ratio Therapeutics." The question was whether that pace attracts a regulator.
"You know, these acquisitions aren't really getting the attentions of regulators. It's getting a lot of attention from investors."
The approach is what investors are reacting to. "Lilly is really taking a very different approach. They're buying things at a very early stage."
She raised the cornering-the-market question herself and then dismissed it. She said she did not know whether Lilly was picking up early-stage assets in one category to corner an emerging technology, and then answered it: "It's so early what they're doing, though. I think that it's probably unlikely and others would follow quickly along."
The screening volume is the number that stands out. Cortez said "they've told us that they look at 10 different acquisitions every single week"
"And so they're pulling the trigger a lot, but they're pulling it at a very low rate, right?"
Against the size of the company, none of it is large. "I think the biggest deal that Lilly has ever done is sub $8 billion"
"It's very small potatoes. They are just chucking a lot of potatoes, in all honesty."
Prozac Is Why Lilly Would Rather Build It, and the GLP-1s Are Why It Thinks It Can
Asked whether Lilly prefers to develop in the lab or buy — "Do they prefer to develop stuff in their lab or just go out and buy it, like with this deal?" — Cortez went back to the last time the company lost a franchise.
"Lilly paid the price of this a long time ago with Prozac. Of course, they were dominant in that particular space. And then when they lost the patent protection on Prozac, they really had to scramble."
The obesity franchise is the counter-example, and it was built rather than bought. "Obviously, they weren't first movers. That was Novo Nordisk. But they developed their weight loss and obesity drugs in-house, and they have really reaped the benefits there."
The current program is a hybrid. "So they're bringing in stuff early stage. They're trying to develop it in-house and then create it long-term."
Most companies in Lilly's position write much larger cheques. "A lot of other companies in this particular situation, when they've had huge products that are losing patent protection, they go out and do $25 billion, $30 billion, $50 billion."
Not many can pony up that kind of money, she said, but the industry does see massive mergers and acquisitions
"They're doing massive numbers in terms of deals, not massive size of the deals themselves."
No Target Number of Deals, Because the Patent Pressure Is Five to Eight Years Out
A host said the frequency of Lilly's scouring was the fascinating part — the company looks constantly and buys occasionally — and asked whether there is a goal it is working to.
"I don't think that they have a number that they need to execute on at this point. And to be fair, they don't have an awful lot of pressure at the moment, right?"
"The patents that they have on these GLP-1 drugs, the shots, they have those for at least another decade."
The franchise is still improving while it is protected. "Like we see some pills and whatnot that are coming along, even more effective, more potent medicines."
The competitive pressure comes from the other side of the market, not from Lilly's own patents. "Novo Nordisk's drugs are older and they are coming off patent, but Lilly's to this point have been a little bit more effective."
"So we'll see if that creates pressure, but it won't be, I think, for another five to eight years that Lilly will actually start having to show how they're going to replace this medicine."
The warning she left it on was another company's. "You only have to look at Pfizer and the struggles that they've had post-pandemic, right, when they've lost their COVID vaccines and their COVID treatments, they just do not want to do that."
Cortez's bottom line is that Lilly is using a decade of GLP-1 protection to buy dozens of small, early-stage shots on goal rather than one large replacement, on the theory that what it develops itself is what it keeps.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Eli Lilly (The buyer, funding an early-stage deal program out of diabetes and weight-loss revenue and looking for what replaces it)
Merida Biosciences (The day's acquisition, in immunology — "Eli Lilly buying Merida Biosciences, $2.88 billion in cash")
InduPro, Amplifica Holdings and Ratio Therapeutics (The three earlier deals the show read off Lilly's recent transaction history — two in August, one in July)
Prozac (The precedent Cortez reached for: Lilly was dominant, lost the patent protection and "really had to scramble")
Novo Nordisk (First mover in obesity drugs, and now the source of the competitive pressure — its drugs are older and coming off patent)
Pfizer (Her cautionary example, on the struggles that followed the loss of its COVID vaccines and treatments)
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