Episode summary
Lilly to Buy Three Vaccine Developers for Up to $3.8 Billion | Bloomberg Intelligence
Bloomberg Intelligence
· · 23 min · Hosts: Paul Sweeney, Alexis Christoforous, Stacey Vanek Smith · Guests: Madison Muller, Anthony Hughes, Craig Trudell, Jennifer Bartashus
Summary
Eli Lilly is using its obesity and diabetes cash machine to broaden beyond weight loss, agreeing to buy three clinical-stage vaccine developers for as much as $3.8 billion. A guest said Lilly is trying to build its next era of growth before its current drugs lose patent protection, and that the company is making earlier-stage deals that fit its pattern of partnering with biotechs before they are fully de-risked. The discussion also noted Lilly’s broader push across obesity, including amylin, less frequent dosing, oral drugs and therapies with fewer side effects.
The show then turned to Quantinuum’s planned US IPO, with the company seeking about $1.05 billion and a valuation around $12 billion to $13 billion. A guest said quantum computing is still early, but could become useful for demanding tasks such as drug discovery, where faster processing might shorten R&D cycles. The segment also highlighted government support, including $100 million for Quantinuum as part of a broader $2 billion US funding push.
Craig Trudell discussed Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, which critics called un-Ferrari-like in appearance even as it promises strong performance. Finally, Jennifer Bartashus argued that the World Cup could generate about $80 billion in global spending, but that high ticket prices, dynamic pricing and travel costs may limit US fan turnout.
Key takeaways
- A guest said Eli Lilly is buying three vaccine developers to seed its next growth phase beyond obesity and diabetes drugs.
- The Lilly deals are earlier-stage and include milestone payments, which a guest said matches the company’s preference for cheaper, pre-commercial biotech bets.
- Quantinuum is expected to seek about $1.05 billion in its US IPO, with a market value around $12 billion to $13 billion.
- A guest said quantum computing’s clearest near-term use case is drug discovery, where it could speed R&D work that is slow on classical computers.
- Ferrari’s first EV was criticized for looking unlike a Ferrari, even though it is expected to do 0 to 60 in about 2 1/2 seconds.
- Bloomberg Intelligence estimated the World Cup could drive about $80 billion in spending, but high ticket and transit costs may keep some fans away.
Notable quotes
“Eli Lilly agrees to buy three vaccine developers for as much as $3.8 billion”
“They like to go for these earlier stage, cheaper deals versus later on sort of bigger mergers”
“This company will will be look Quantinuum will be looking to raise about a billion dollars for a sort of market value market cap of around sort of 12, 13”
“the World Cup around the world could be resultant 80 billion dollars worth of spending”
“It is going to be incredibly quick, about 2 and 1/2 seconds from 0 to 60”
How the episode opens
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You're listening to the Bloomberg Intelligence podcast. Catch us live weekdays at 10:00 a.m. Eastern on Apple car play and Android Auto with the Bloomberg Business app.
Listen on demand wherever you get your podcast or watch us live on YouTube. Well, I was going to call it a merger Monday, but it's Tuesday, so that doesn't work. But that doesn't stop the pharmaceutical companies from doing more deals.
As I I'll said it before, I'll say it again. In the next life, I'm coming back as a healthcare M&A banker cuz they get paid every single week, it seems like, and this week's no different. Madison Muller joins us here, healthcare reporter for a Bloomberg News.
Eli Lilly agrees to buy three vaccine developers for as much as $3.8 billion. Madison, what's Eli Lilly looking to do here? Yeah, I mean, it's definitely an interesting time to be buying into the vaccine space given sort of the political climate that we have in the US with health secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. who has um, you know, pulled funding from various vaccines who and and we've sort of lost seen a a loss of public support for vaccines, but that has not stopped Lilly. I mean, Lilly has been on a tear recently with M&A.
Uh, the company has a lot of cash on hand thanks to popularity of its blockbuster obesity and diabetes medications. And what it's looking to do now is to build toward that next era of growth. What happens after these medications that are fueling its growth right now lose patent protection as they always do in the pharmaceutical industry.
And so, vaccines are going to be, at least it appears to be part of Lilly's sort of next era.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- lilly acquisition
- vaccine developers
- quantinuum ipo
- ferrari ev outlook
- world cup betting economics
Companies and tickers mentioned
- LLY
- RACE
- Eli Lilly & Co.
- Quantinuum
- Ferrari
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Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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