Prozac's maker goes psychedelic

PLUS: It's game over for OnePlus in the U.S.

Jennifer Mossalgue

July 17, 2026

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Eli Lilly just spent $2.8B on one of biotech’s strangest acquisitions: a nasal spray for depression that works in one clinic visit.

The company that gave the world Prozac now thinks the future of antidepressants isn’t a daily pill — it’s a supervised, 90-minute trip that keeps working for months. With J&J’s ketamine spray already pulling in blockbuster revenue, Big Pharma’s psychedelic race is officially on.

In today’s tech rundown:

Lilly drops $2.8B on psychedelics
OnePlus pulls the plug on the U.S. and Europe
The iPad Mini finally getting its glow-up
This smart ring claims to rival a blood pressure cuff
Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

BIOTECH

🍄 Lilly drops $2.8B on psychedelics

Image source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: Eli Lilly just agreed to acquire AtaiBeckley — maker of a fast-acting DMT nasal spray — for $2.8B upfront, dropping the company that invented Prozac into the strangest corner of mental health medicine.

The details:

Lilly is paying $6.75 per share in cash, with up to $1B more tied to development and regulatory milestones — a potential $3.8B total.
The centerpiece is BPL-003, a 5-MeO-DMT nasal spray in Phase 3 for treatment-resistant depression, with Phase 2b patients improving by day two.
AtaiBeckley’s pipeline includes other psychedelics (one related to MDMA) built to rebuild neural connections instead of tweaking neurotransmitters.
The deal is Lilly’s ninth acquisition this year, on top of $10B+ in upfront commitments — and puts it on a collision course with Johnson & Johnson.

Why it matters: Lilly turned antidepressants into a mass-market product with Prozac, and now it’s wagering that harder-to-treat depression care moves from daily pills to a few clinic-administered doses a year. With J&J’s ketamine-based Spravato already clearing $1B annually, psychedelic medicine has started being a pharma category.

ONEPLUS

🔌 OnePlus pulls the plug on the U.S. and Europe

Image source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: OnePlus — the brand that taught Android fans to expect flagship specs at mid-range prices — is exiting the U.S. and Europe, retreating to China as parent company Oppo restructures around a brutal memory-chip crunch.

The details:

New OnePlus phones will stop shipping to North America and Europe, ending a 12-year run that began with the cult-favorite OnePlus One.
Western owners will be moved off OxygenOS and onto Oppo’s ColorOS, with Oppo pledging continued updates.
Sister brand Realme gets the mirror-image treatment: it exits China entirely to focus on overseas markets in the same cost-cutting shakeup.
By 2027, the pullback is expected to reach nearly every market outside China — including India, once OnePlus’ biggest stronghold.

Why it matters: OnePlus’ exit closes the book on one of Android’s most influential challenger brands in the West, narrowing choice just as phones get pricier and upgrade cycles drag on. The move exposes how rising component costs and competition are pushing Chinese vendors to pull back, leaving OnePlus owners in a support limbo.

APPLE

🍎 The iPad Mini finally getting its glow-up

Image source: Images 2.0 / The Rundown

The Rundown: Apple is preparing to give the iPad mini its biggest upgrade in years — an OLED screen, arriving as soon as October — before refreshing the rest of the tablet lineup through 2027, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The details:

The new mini, code-named J510, would be the first non-Pro iPad with OLED, the display tech the iPhone has carried since 2017 and the iPad Pro since 2024.
Gurman previously reported the mini would gain a vibration-based speaker system and increased water resistance.
A refreshed entry-level iPad, code-named J581, follows in Q1 2027 — a smaller update, with a faster chip being the most notable change.
New 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Airs land in spring 2027, alongside new iPad Pro models, completing OLED’s slow trickle-down through the lineup.

Why it matters: The mini has spent years on Apple’s slower upgrade track, but it is now poised to become the first non-Pro iPad with OLED. That upgrade may carry a premium: the current mini already starts at $599 after Apple’s recent price increase, and rising display and memory costs could push the next model even higher.

VITAL SIGNALS

❤️ This smart ring claims to rival a blood pressure cuff

Image source: Vital Signals

The Rundown: Vital Signals, a startup from ex-Google and Skydio exec Tom Moss, just unveiled the Signal Ring — a $399 smart ring promising continuous, cuffless blood pressure monitoring with zero calibration, shipping in October.

The details:

The ring combines a high-speed optical sensor with proprietary algorithms, with Vital Signals claiming its readings are as accurate as a traditional arm cuff.
Unlike Apple Watch or Oura, it displays actual systolic and diastolic numbers in its app, with no calibration required or subscription attached.
Moss, who founded Vital Signals after a hypertensive crisis, targets people with hypertension and cardiac conditions, with insurer tie-ins in the pipeline.
Battery lasts roughly three days, and a charging case holds four extra charges; U.S. pre-orders are open now at $399.

Why it matters: Signal Ring is pushing smart rings beyond sleep scores and fitness tracking toward one of medicine’s most important vital signs. If the accuracy claims hold up outside the company’s own testing, Oura, Apple, and the rest have a new bar to clear.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

Spotify co-founder Daniel Ek’s body-scanning health startup Neko Health raised $700M in funding to expand its preventive health clinics, including a first U.S. site.

The NTSB found that the Tesla driver who blamed Autopilot for a fatal Texas crash had fully pressed the accelerator pedal, overriding the system and reaching over 70 mph.

Blue Origin revamped its employee stock option plan to offer more ways for workers to cash out, including outside funding rounds and tender offers.

Meta introduced a feature that notifies parents if its AI chatbot detects a teen discussing suicide or self-harm, aiming to enhance safety but raising privacy concerns.

The EU ordered Google to give rival search engines and AI assistants comparable access to Android features and Google Search data.

Uber is buying German food-delivery company Delivery Hero in a roughly $14.8B deal, offering €41.50 per share to expand Uber Eats’ international footprint.

European defense AI startup Helsing raised $1.8B in a Series E round, valuing the Munich-based company at $18B.

The U.K. is proposing rules that would default 16- and 17-year-olds’ social media apps to a midnight–6 a.m. shutdown and turn off infinite scroll and autoplay.

The NHTSA rejected Tesla’s bid to avoid a recall, ordering fixes for nearly 20K Model 3 and Model Y vehicles whose headlights can exceed legal brightness limits.

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