Lilly to Acquire Orna Therapeutics in Up to $2.4 Bn Deal to Advance In Vivo CAR-T Therapies

The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Lilly’s capabilities in in vivo CAR-T cell therapies and genetic medicine.

Eli Lilly and Company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Orna Therapeutics, Inc. in a transaction valued at up to $2.4 billion, the companies announced on February 9. The acquisition is aimed at strengthening Lilly’s capabilities in in vivo CAR-T cell therapies and genetic medicine.

Under the terms of the agreement, Orna shareholders could receive up to $2.4 billion in cash, including an upfront payment and additional payments tied to clinical development milestones. Financial details beyond the total potential value were not disclosed. Lilly said the accounting treatment of the transaction will be determined upon closing in accordance with GAAP and reflected in its financial results and guidance.

Orna, based in Watertown, Massachusetts, is developing therapeutics using engineered circular RNA combined with proprietary lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery technology. The company’s platform is designed to enable the body to generate its own cell therapies in vivo, eliminating the need for ex vivo cell manipulation.

Its lead program, ORN-252, is a clinical trial-ready, CD19-targeting in vivo Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy intended to treat B-cell-driven autoimmune diseases. Early experimental data suggest that Orna’s circular RNA platform may provide more durable protein expression compared to existing RNA or cell therapy approaches.

“Early autologous CAR-T studies have shown the promise of cell therapy for patients with autoimmune diseases, but the complexity, cost, and logistics of ex vivo approaches make it challenging to deliver these breakthroughs to the broader population of patients who need them,” said Francisco Ramírez-Valle, M.D., Ph.D., senior vice president and head of Immunology Research and Early Clinical Development at Lilly.

Orna CEO Joe Bolen, Ph.D., said the company’s circular RNA technology and lipid nanoparticle platform are intended to enable in vivo CAR-T therapies across a broad range of B-cell-driven autoimmune conditions.

The acquisition provides Lilly with a platform for long-term innovation in genetic medicine and in vivo cell engineering, expanding its immunology research and early clinical development pipeline.

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