Eli Lilly agreed to buy Merida Biosciences for up to $2.875 billion to add a targeted autoantibody-degradation platform to its immunology pipeline. The deal gives Lilly a technology designed to bind and eliminate disease-causing autoantibodies rather than broadly suppressing the immune system. Merida’s lead program, MER511, is in a Phase 1 safety and dosing study in Graves disease, administered alongside anti-thyroid medications. Lilly positioned the approach as a way to address autoantibody-driven pathology for conditions where existing therapies do not directly target those antibodies. The acquisition expands Lilly’s immunology M&A momentum and signals continued capital concentration on next-generation immune precision approaches that can create differentiated clinical profiles.