Lilly’s plans to buy CAR-T firm Kelonia in deal worth up to $7 billion.
GLP-1 revenue at Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, 2022-2025. Lilly’s tirzepatide franchise grew more than fivefold in three years while Novo’s semaglutide portfolio nearly tripled, pushing combined sales past $75B. Source: Eli Lilly 10-K, Novo Nordisk Annual Report 2025. Novo DKK→USD at IRS 2025 rate (6.617).
Pfizer’s $43 billion Seagen acquisition became symbolic of its post-COVID spending spree. The acquisition gave the company an established oncology business and a deeper antibody-drug conjugate portfolio just as investors were grappling with the sharp decline of its COVID vaccine and Paxlovid sales. Fast forward to today, and now Lilly is on its own buying run, agreeing to acquire CAR-T developer Kelonia for up to $7 billion as it uses tirzepatide cash to build out its next wave of growth beyond obesity and diabetes. Lilly also signed a potentially $2.75 billion collaboration with Insilico Medicine for a portfolio of AI-originated preclinical oral therapeutics.
In essence, both Lilly today and Pfizer in recent years found themselves in a similar situation. Both are flush with cash from a single blockbuster franchise that helped drive dealmaking. But Pfizer was buying Seagen in late 2023 just as its COVID windfall was already in free fall: full-year revenue collapsed 42% from $100.3 billion in 2022 to $58.5 billion in 2023, with Comirnaty dropping 64% and Paxlovid falling 58%. Lilly’s M&A spree, by contrast, is happening while tirzepatide is still on an upward curve. Tirzepatide generated roughly $36.5 billion of Lilly’s $65.2 billion in 2025 revenue, and management guided for $80 billion to $83 billion in 2026. On April 1, the FDA approved Foundayo (orforglipron), Lilly’s oral GLP-1 for obesity, under the new National Priority Voucher program, just 50 days after filing. With Foundayo now shipping through LillyDirect at $149/month for the lowest dose, and Medicare Part D access at $50/month expected by July, Lilly is adding an oral growth vector on top of the injectable franchise. Q1 2026 results are due April 30.
Lilly appears to have a more durable playbook than its GLP-1 pioneer Novo Nordisk as well. Lilly’s GLP-1 revenue surged from $7.6B to $40.7B between 2022 and 2025, a steeper ramp than Novo Nordisk’s $12.3B-to-$35.0B climb over the same period, and the gap is widening: Lilly is guiding for continued growth in 2026 while Novo projects a 5% to 13% decline in adjusted sales.
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