French biotech Abivax jumps 20% on news of possible takeover by Eli Lilly

U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is seeking to buy French ulcerative colitis drug developer Abivax at a price roughly double the company’s market value, Paris newspaper La Lettre reported. Abivax shares have surged, though analysts say the upside for the best-performing stock in the STOXX Europe 600 in 2025 may not yet be exhausted.

Eli Lilly is prepared to offer EUR15 billion to acquire French biotech Abivax, La Lettre reported on Monday, January 12. According to the newspaper, Eli Lilly is awaiting clarification from France’s Ministry of Economy and Finance on whether such a deal would be subject to foreign investment controls. Abivax CEO Marc de Garidel declined to comment on Lilly’s interest but told Bloomberg that a treasury review is required and typically takes about three months.

According to Reuters calculations, a EUR15 billion valuation would be almost double Abivax’s market capitalization at the time of the La Lettre report. Following the news, Abivax shares jumped as much as 31% to EUR130 per share in Paris trading. The company’s American depositary shares also climbed about 31% in Nasdaq premarket trading. The gains later moderated, with both the Paris-listed shares and the ADRs up about 20%. Eli Lilly shares were down 0.06% in early New York trading on Monday.

In July 2025, Abivax released positive phase III trial data for its ulcerative colitis drug, sending its Paris-listed shares more than six times higher in a single session. The company plans to begin selling the drug in the U.S. in the third quarter of 2027. Large pharmaceutical companies cannot ignore the product’s potential to become one of the most widely used drugs of the next decade, de Garidel said.

According to Oddo BHF, Abivax is positioned more as a takeover target than as a standalone development story. Kepler Cheuvreux estimates that in a takeover scenario, Abivax shares could “reasonably” trade at EUR150-250 per share, reflecting “control premiums, synergies, and the strategic value of a late-stage oral IBD (inflammatory bowel disease) asset.”