By Mackenzie Tatananni
Many investors are focused on Eli Lilly's portfolio of weight-loss drugs, a catchall term for its oral and injectable GLP-1 medications, but the company has been on an acquisition spree in a bid to deepen its leadership in other fields.
Just look at Verve-102, the experimental cell therapy Lilly acquired through its purchase of Verve Pharmaceuticals last year. Data released Monday showed that a single infusion of Verve-102 reduced PCSK9 protein levels by up to 88% and lowered LDL cholesterol by as much as 62%.
PCSK9 is a protein that regulates cholesterol levels in the bloodstream. Raised levels of the protein indicate that the body is clearing less cholesterol from the blood, leading to high LDL cholesterol, which is linked to heart disease and stroke.
Lilly is targeting patients with premature coronary artery disease and a genetic condition called heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH), which occurs when a patient inherits a faulty cholesterol-regulating gene from one parent. Having HeFH dramatically increases the risk of early-onset heart disease.
The results look promising, but Verve-102 is only in Phase 1b studies, meaning it's too early to draw conclusions about its efficacy. These studies follow initial safety testing in healthy volunteers, and are typically the first time an investigational treatment is administered to patients who actually have the targeted disease.
This could be part of the reason shares barely budged on Tuesday. Lilly stock added 0.9%, narrowly ahead of the benchmark S&P 500, which rose 0.4%.
Still, the Food and Drug Administration has already placed the treatment on a fast track for approval. Lilly says it plans to initiate a Phase 2 study by the end of the year.
The trial aligns with Lilly's push to embrace in vivo therapies, a faster and cheaper alternative to ex vivo therapies that involve removing a patient's cells, altering them in a lab, and reintroducing them to the body.
Verve-102 is a base editing medicine that switches off a specific gene in the liver by chemically altering a single nucleotide in a patient's DNA. It poses a less invasive alternative to traditional CRISPR-Cas9 therapy, which cuts both strands of the DNA double helix.
In vivo therapies have become a priority for Lilly. Just last month, Lilly struck an agreement to acquire Kelonia Therapeutics, the maker of in vivo gene therapies, for $3.25 billion upfront. Verve-102 itself was developed by Verve Therapeutics, a Boston-based drugmaker Lilly purchased in July 2025.
And Lilly isn't stopping there. The company announced Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire a trio of vaccine developers -- Curevo, LimmaTech Biologics, and Vaccine Co. -- to broaden its infectious disease portfolio.
Barclays analyst Emily Field noted that the assets at the center of the deal address viral pathogens associated with chronic neurological and cancer risks, as well as drug-resistant pathogens that are increasingly difficult to treat.
Curevo's lead candidate is an experimental shingles vaccine for adults aged 50 and older. Lilly believes it will be just as effective as current market leaders but with fewer side effects, potentially boosting lagging vaccination rates.
Also set to join the pipeline are several vaccines from LimmaTech targeting bacterial infections including Staphylococcus aureus, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, and Chlamydia trachomatis.
Vaccine Co., similarly, is advancing what Lilly describes as a "broad preclinical pipeline," including a potential candidate targeting Epstein-Barr virus, which would be the first of its kind on the market.
Field characterized the acquisitions as an entry point into a "white space" for Lilly, noting that the company has long been interested in infectious diseases.
Chief Financial Officer Lucas Montarce confirmed this focus in an interview with Barron's last month, indicating that Lilly was looking to grow beyond its four main areas of focus: cardiometabolic health, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience.
"Some of the emerging areas that we are exploring are woman's health and infectious diseases," Montarce said at the time. "Those are, in my eyes, potentially bigger classes that we can tap into in the U.S."
But it's impossible to ignore Lilly's blockbuster weight-loss drugs. The company is approaching dealmaking from a position of financial strength on the back of its success in the weight-loss drug market.
Much of the investor focus is trained on weekly prescription data for Foundayo, Lilly's recently launched obesity pill. BofA Securities analysts updated their forecasts for Lilly's GLP-1 franchise after conducting a survey of physicians.
"Overall, category growth dynamics look sound, and Lilly's overall market position remains dominant," analysts with the firm wrote.
Their survey data points to an expanding GLP-1 market with significant upside for the company, only bolstered by the rollout of its weight-loss pill.
Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 26, 2026 16:47 ET (20:47 GMT)
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