Translated from our German original by AI. The German text was researched, written, and edited by the Psychedelia Foundation team and remains the authoritative version.
The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly is acquiring the psychedelic biotech developer AtaiBeckley in a transaction with a total value of up to 3.8 billion US dollars. Lilly is paying 6.75 US dollars per share in cash, valuing AtaiBeckley initially at around 2.8 billion US dollars. A further sum of up to 1 billion US dollars may follow through performance-based milestone payments.
At the center of the acquisition is BPL-003, an intranasally administered 5-MeO-DMT for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression. The candidate is about to enter the pivotal Phase III trials. Also part of the agreement is VLS-01, a DMT-based development candidate.
The additional payments are tied to clinical and regulatory milestones, among them the start of Phase III for VLS-01 and the approval and rescheduling of both candidates by the US authorities FDA and DEA.
The offer price represents a premium of around 25 percent on the closing price of the AtaiBeckley share before the transaction was announced.
At a potential 3.8 billion US dollars, the acquisition is the largest transaction in psychedelic medicine to date. It also marks Eli Lilly’s most significant move so far into the development of psychedelic therapies. The deal is expected to close in the current quarter.
