Eli Lilly announced it will buy Merida Biosciences for up to $2.88 billion, extending its immunology push into a platform designed to bind and eliminate pathogenic autoantibodies. The acquisition centers on Merida’s Fc-directed approach, with an early focus on Graves’ disease and related thyroid eye disease. Merida’s lead program, MER511, is engineered to engage anti-TSHR autoantibodies and route them for internalization and lysosomal degradation in liver cells. Lilly said the deal includes an upfront payment and potential milestone rewards, with estimated total value reported at roughly $2.875 billion. The purchase follows a rapid cadence of Lilly deals in 2026 and adds a Phase 1-stage Fc therapeutic to a pipeline aimed at changing disease courses rather than only treating downstream effects.