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Lilly to acquire Centessa Pharmaceuticals to advance treatments for sleep-wake disorders
Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTA), a clinical-stage company developing a new class of medicines for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and other neurological conditions, today announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Centessa.
About this update from Eli Lilly And Company
[{"type":"text","content":"Centessa's OX2R agonist pipeline includes a potential best-in-class therapeutic with significant promise to meaningfully improve outcomes across a range of sleep-wake disorders","length":180,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}},{"type":"text","content":"Acquisition expands Lilly's neuroscience portfolio and capabilities into sleep medicine ","length":91,"tagName":"p","attribs":{}},{"type":"text","content":"INDIANAPOLIS and BOSTON and LONDON, March 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE: LLY) and Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTA), a clinical-stage company developing a new class of medicines for the treatment of excessive daytime sleepiness and other neurological conditions, today announced a definitive agreement for Lilly to acquire Centessa.","length":365,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":"Centessa is advancing a pipeline of orexin receptor 2 (OX2R) agonists designed to address the neurobiological system critical to the sleep-wake cycle to treat excessive daytime sleepiness and disorders of impaired wakefulness. Its lead investigational candidate cleminorexton (formerly ORX750) has demonstrated a potential best-in-class profile in Phase 2a clinical studies across narcolepsy type 1, narcolepsy type 2, and idiopathic hypersomnia. Centessa's OX2R agonist portfolio includes additional clinical and preclinical-stage assets with potential utility across a broader range of neurological, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric conditions.","length":657,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""Orexin receptor biology represents one of the most compelling mechanistic opportunities in neuroscience as a direct intervention on the master switch of the sleep-wake cycle. Centessa has assembled a portfolio with the breadth and depth to improve wakefulness across a broad array of indications," said Carole Ho, executive vice president and president, Lilly Neuroscience. "Joining forces with Centessa colleagues means we can now pursue that potential at the speed and scale it deserves."","length":511,"tagName":"p"},{"type":"text","content":""Centessa is at the forefront of orexin science, and we've built a potential best-in-class portfolio of OX2R agonists with a level of depth and breadth that could help redefine what's possible in neuroscience," said Mario Alberto Accardi, PhD...