Eli Lilly
will acquire psychedelic drugmaker AtaiBeckley for $2.8 billion up front, the company said Thursday, as momentum grows for using versions of the drugs as mental health treatments.
The transaction gives Lilly access to AtaiBeckley’s experimental DMT-based drug that’s being studied in Phase 3 clinical trials for treatment-resistant depression. AtaiBeckley is developing several other psychedelics for mental health conditions, including one related to MDMA, also known as ecstasy.
AtaiBeckley’s lead drug, BPL-003, is related to dimethyltryptamine, or DMT. The nasal spray is administered in a clinic where patients are monitored for about two hours. Initial Phase 3 trial results are expected in 2029.
“The goal here was to find a different type of medicine that could help them, not just changing the neurotransmitters in their brain, but actually changing the connections of neurons in their brain to try and help them from the disease,” Lilly’s chief scientific officer, Dan Skovronsky, said Thursday in an interview with CNBC.
He said the team at AtaiBeckley found the drug could have a profound effect very quickly that could persist for months, making BPL-003 a “very different type of medicine for treating depression.” It’s possible that people could receive the treatment a couple times a year, Skovronsky said.
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https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/16/eli-lilly-to-buy-psychedelics-maker-ataibeckley-2point8-billion.html