Eli Lilly Acquires Dermatology Pharmaceutical Company Dermira For $1.1 Billion

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly announced Friday its agreement to buy biopharmaceutical company Dermira.

Lilly will acquire the California-based company for a little more than $1 billion.

Dermira was founded about a decade ago and sells dermatology drugs to treat conditions including eczema and excessive sweating.

Patrik Jonsson, Lilly senior vice president and president of Lilly Bio-Medicines, said in a statement that the deal is consistent with the company’s strategy to bring in new medicines.

“The acquisition of Dermira is consistent with Lilly's strategy to augment our own internal research by acquiring clinical phase assets in our core therapeutic areas and leveraging our development expertise and commercial infrastructure to bring new medicines to patients,” he said.

This is the latest acquisition for Lilly following last year’s $8 billion deal with cancer drug developer Loxo Oncology.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. 

Contact Samantha at shorton@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @SamHorton5.