Kirkland & Ellis has once again partnered with Eli Lilly & Co., this time in the pharmaceutical giant’s $3.2 billion acquisition of Morphic Holding Inc. Announced on Monday, the transaction is strategically aimed at expanding Lilly’s drug portfolio, particularly for inflammatory bowel disease and other chronic illnesses.
The acquisition is expected to provide Lilly with experimental oral treatments that have the potential to offer earlier interventions in diseases like ulcerative colitis, among other serious conditions. Fenwick & West advised Morphic during the transaction.
Health care has remained a highly active sector for mergers and acquisitions this year, contributing significantly to the uptick in deal activities. Kirkland & Ellis, a key player in Big Law’s top dealmakers, has played a substantial role in this trend, handling $172.8 billion worth of transactions through June, according to Bloomberg data.
The Eli Lilly-Morphic deal is the latest in a series of transactions that Kirkland has coordinated for Lilly. In 2023, the firm also advised on Lilly’s $1.4 billion acquisition of POINT Biopharma and its $2.4 billion acquisition of DICE Therapeutics. The Kirkland team for the Morphic acquisition was led by corporate partners Keri Schick Norton, Steven Choi, and Sarkis Jebejian, along with other specialists in capital markets, antitrust and competition, technology and IP transactions, and executive compensation.
Fenwick’s advisory team for Morphic was headed by corporate partners Effie Toshav, Doug Cogen, David Michaels, Victoria Lupu, Rob Freedman, and Julia Forbes, supplemented by experts in technology transactions, patents, antitrust, healthcare regulation, and executive compensation.