Eli Lilly's top dealmaker says don't be surprised to see more M&A that pushes Lilly into new areas

Jacob Van Naarden is busy. In addition to running Eli Lilly 's oncology business, he's now responsible for finding the drugmaker's next opportunities as head of business development. And Lilly, now the world's largest pharmaceutical company, is hungrier than ever for deals. "The company's financial strength right now, driven mostly by the weight loss business, is so strong," Van Naarden said in an interview at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's annual meeting. "We have this really like almost generational opportunity to redeploy that capital in all of our disease areas to not only fuel growth for the company in the decades to come, but to help a lot more patients with all different kinds of diseases, and so we're executing against that strategy." Jacob S. Van Naarden, Executive Vice President; President of Lilly Oncology and Head of Corporate Business Development, Eli Lilly and Company. Courtesy: Eli Lilly Not even halfway into the year, Lilly has already announced it will spend more than $10 billion upfront and potentially up to $25 billion on eight acquisitions. For all of last year, Lilly spent about $4 billion on roughly 40 deals. The spending spree reflects an intentional shift in how Lilly approaches dealmaking now that the company is larger and more highly valued than ever before. The company's market capitalization now stands at about $1 trillion, up from $190 billion in 2021, according to data from LSEG. …